


Showstoppers

by TastyToast



Series: Showstoppers series [1]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Animated (2007)
Genre: Angst, Drama, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I'm throwing canon out the window, M/M, Mutual Pining, Romance, Slow Burn, Tags May Change, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:14:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 137,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23108308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TastyToast/pseuds/TastyToast
Summary: Bumblebee and Blitzwing get stuck together in a Tv show of life and death. Where the price for winning is to continue and the punishment for losing is getting turned offline.They would probably have a lot less of a bad time if they joined forces, but that is easier said than done...
Relationships: Blitzwing/Bumblebee
Series: Showstoppers series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1955461
Comments: 270
Kudos: 409





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me if you want any tags added!  
> Comments are greatly appreciated!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Bumblebee was driving around Detroit on patrol. It was 11 pm, the perfect time for crime and Bumblebee was hoping that he would get some action. But he found nothing. No banks getting robbed or any Decepticon starting a fight, not even a mugging. Everything was calm and quiet and it was actually quite boring. He was just hoping that something would happen. And like Primus himself had heard so was his prayers answered. His HUD lit up, showing an allspark signal.

Usually he should have been excited. But now the sight of the dot on his HUD screen just irritated him.

“You gotta be kidding me” Bumblebee said to himself, annoyance clear in his voice. “Another all spark signal?” 

For weeks now so would a similar allspark signal appear but when the team got to the place so would there be no allspark there and the signal would disappear without a trace. It had been really annoying. It felt like that prank were you tie a string to a wallet and just pull it away when someone is about to pick it up.

They had tried to restart their systems and they had looked if there was something messing up or creating a similar signal to the allspark, but nothing seemed to have helped or lead to any sort of explanation. The signal popping up time and time again just to leave them empty handed was really irritating. This last week alone so had there been three fake signals, well four if you counted the one that was appearing now.

But even though the signals had been crying wolf so did they still have to go and check, just in case it actually was an allspark fragment. Bumblebee sighed again. Well this was at least a little less boring than just driving around in circles. Bumblebee opened his comm link to the rest of the team

“Hey, you guys getting this?” He asked.

“Yeah, we’re all getting it” Bulkhead responded.

“This is the fourth one this week” Prowl chimed in. “It really feels like someone is, as humans says: taking us on a ‘wild goose chase’.” Bumblebee sighed.

“It feels like someone playing a prank on us” Bumblebee huffed and looked at his HUD again to see where the fragment were. It was not far from where he was. He opened his link again. “It’s like a five minute drive from where I am. I’ll go and check it out” Quickly so did Optimus voice come from the link.

“No, something about this whole thing is giving me a bad feeling. Wait for backup” Bumblebee let out a annoyed sigh. It would take him five minutes to go to the signal. If he had to wait for the rest of the team it would take at least 25 more, and that was while hoping there was no traffic jam or similar.

“It’s probably another fake signal. And nothing has happened when we have gone to them before so why would this be any different?” 

“Yes, that's true” Optimus agreed. “But, we have always gone together. And I like to continue that. So Bumblebee stay where you are and we’ll go there together” Bumblebee was quiet for a minute before he got an idea and answered.

“What was that boss bot? I can’t bzzz” Bumblebee faked static. “Your breaking up for- tchss. What was that- part- said? Kshzzs I’ll check it- myself”

“Bee don’t you-” Bumblebee turned off his comm link and took off towards the coordinates of the allspark fragment.

He followed his HUD map to an area where there were mostly factories and similar stuff. It was late at night so no humans was around at the moment. It was like he was in a ghost town. The only thing that tipped off that he was not completely alone in the whole world was the distant sound of cars that he could hear all the way from the more busy part of Detroit. It would have been completely dark if it were not for the street lights giving of a yellowish light. Their light gave everything in the area long shadows which helped with the ghostly atmosphere. 

This was the first time he was checking out a signal on his own. Usually so did they at least go in pairs. Bumblebee looked at the map and then around.

His HUD was telling him the signal was coming from a truck sellers park. The shop was surrounded by a high chain link fence and a big gate. Bumblebee transformed walked over to it and to his surprise so did he notice that the gate wasn’t locked. He gently pushed it and it swung open with ease, allowing him entry. 

He walked in and scanned the park with his optic. No human in sight as far as he could tell. There were a lot of trucks though. Some even had trailers.

It was a bit darker in the park then on the street because they were further away from the street lamps and there was no source of light anywhere in the park. It was enough light to be able to make out some details, but color was limited down to shades of black and grey and written text was nearly impossible to read.

Bumblebee started to walk throughout the car park, keeping his optics open for a familiar looking blue, glowing rock.

He couldn’t help but to feel a bit uneasy. It felt like somebody was watching him. It had felt like that since he entered through the gate. _Maybe the owner of the park is still around, maybe that’s why the gate wasn’t locked. And now maybe they’re too shy to talk to me or something._ Bumblebee looked around again but he saw none. 

“Hello? Is someone here?” He asked out loud. He was silent for a couple of minutes but he got no response, all he heard was his own vents taking in air and the sound of his peds on the pavement as he walked.

“It’s me Bumblebee, one of the Autobots. I’m not here to steal anything. I’m just looking for a blue glowing rock” Still no answer. _Man who ever is watching me, if there actually is someone, is really shy._ He continued. “I’ll leave as fast as I can” He then slowly proceeded to walk to the very end of the car park. The feeling of being watch never left him. A shiver went through his frame. It felt a bit unreal to walk around a place that usually was so alive now that it was completely empty. It felt like he was in a horror movie and a ghost would soon pop out and try to scare him. _A_ scary thought entered his mind. _Maybe this is a trick, or a trap of some kind._

He opened his HUD again and tried to shake his anxiety out of his mind. _It probably just my imagination._

Bumblebee looked at his HUD screen in puzzlement. He was right on the the coordinates but he saw no allspark fragment. All he saw was trucks waiting to be sold. Often when they got this far so would the signal disappear, however this time so was the signal still very much there. He laid down on his stomach and looked under the trucks. Still no sign of a fragment. He stood up and scratched the back of his helm in confusion. 

_What in the world is making that signal? Is my HUD malfunctioning?_

He activated his comms and contacted Optimus. He knew he would get a lecture later for the whole "static" thing, but nothing bad had happen so it would probably not be a very long lecture.

“Hey boss bot, I’m at the coordinates but I see no-” Bumblebee felt a pinch of pain in his back, like something had stung him. He had no time to react before he felt electricity go throughout his whole frame. It felt like he had somehow gotten into a power line. Pain surged through his frame. It was unbearable and his legs buckled and he fell to the ground. He let out a scream in surprise and pain. The electric continued to flow and his limbs twitched involuntary. It felt like the electricity was shaking every part of his frame hard and incredibly fast. Bumblebees vision was going out of focus and it was hard to keep his optics open, it was like his consciousness was drifting further and further away. 

The last thing he heard before he fell unconscious was the sound of a truck starting and Optimus voice from his comm link.

“Bee, what’s going on? Bee are you there? Bumblebee?! Bumblebee what happened-” Then Optimus voice became to distant to hear and his optics completely closed.

Bumblebee slowly opened his optics again. He felt his peds getting dragged across a stone floor. He also felt something holding his arms and were pulling them.His helm was aching and he felt sore. He’s mind was slowly coming alive again but his frame still felt like it was not quite awake. He noticed he was being dragged backwards and started to look around, exploring his surroundings with his optics. He was being dragged through a white painted stone hallway. The hallway had a smell of fresh paint. It was pretty cold, not freezing but enough to make you want to turn up the heat. _Where in Primus name am I?_ Bumblebee didn’t recognize this place at all. He tried to listen if he could hear something, but all he could hear was his peds scraping against the floor and the footsteps from whoever was dragging him.

He looked now up to his arms to see who was dragging him. The first thing that caught his optics was that he had metal like bracelets around his wrist. The metal looked brand new, there was no scratches or dents on them, the light from the ceiling lamps bounced off them. The next thing that surprised him was that he wasn’t being dragged by a person, or an cybertonian. It was a robot. It looked human made and was humanoid in nature. Bumblebee saw that they were holding his arms and dragging him forward. Dragging him towards what he didn't know and he didn't want to stay and find out. It looked like the robot was not paying him much attention, they probably hand’t even noticed he was awake. 

He tried to wiggle his digits slightly and noticed he could move them. He shook his frame slightly just to make sure he could move it. His frame was responding just fine.

In one fast swoop so did he jerk his arms out of the robots grip. He landed on his aft but quickly got up on his peds and started to run without looking back. He didn’t know where he was, how he got here or what was up with robot or where he was going, all he knew was that he wanted out.

Because he didn’t actually know where he was supposed to run so was he just moving forward hoping he would just by pure luck go the right way. He looked at the bracelets around his wrists. He grabbed one and tried to pull it off but to no avail. It was very well made and really sturdy. It would be impossible for him to get them off without help from someone or something.

He tried to transform. He was worried for a bit that the bracelets would stop him but the transformation went just fine and he started to drive as fast as he could.

He tried to activate his HUD to see where he was but all he got was pop ups with the word “error” on. _Okay, not good...I’ll try to comm my team._ He opened his comm link.

“Hey guys!” No response “Anyone there?" The link remained silent "Is anyone getting this? Hello?” He got no respons, the only ting that answered his calls was static. _Okay, that's not good either._

He soon came to fork in the hallway. He could continue forward or turn right. In a split second reaction so did he turn right. Just too quickly notice the hallway suddenly ended. All that was there was one door. It was made for humans but he could probably fit with some fines from Bumblebees part. He had no reason to stop so he grabbed the handle and pulled. The door was locked.

Bumblebee pulled on the handle a few extra times before letting go in an annoyed huff. _Maybe I can kick it open?_ He didn’t get much time to think because suddenly the door flew open and a human man came out.

Bumblebee looked at him dumbfounded for a moment before he recognized who it was.

“You!” Bumblebee yelled and pointed a digit towards Master Disaster. Even though Bumblebee was surprised to see him here so didn’t it look like the feeling was mutual. Like a cowboy standoff so pulled Master Disaster a controller from his belt, aimed it towards Bumblebee and activated it.

Bumblebee didn't react fast enough and he felt his whole frame freeze in place, like he had just been turned into a statue. Bumblebee knew immediately what he had done. He had found another allspark fragment and had made a new controller that could control machines.

Bumblebee tried to speak, but he couldn’t open his mouth so the only thing he could do was make muffled aggressive noises.It was like someone had glued his lips shut. Master Disaster got a smug look on his face, and put a hand to his ear

“Sorry, what was that? I didn’t hear you” Bumblebee made some more angry noises but Master Disaster just smirked. He turned a knob on the controller and Bumblebee felt his jaw release from its locked position. Bumblebee wasted no time and immediately started speaking.

“Master Disaster! What is going on!? Why are you here?!” Master Disaster just smirked. 

“Oh, all will be revealed in due time, Bumblebee is it? I'm sorry but I could never tell you robots apart.” Bumblebee didn’t respond, and just instead scowled at him. Master Disaster ignored his displeased look.

“Let’s take a walk” He said and started walking. He fiddle with the control and forced Bumblebee to walk next to him. It felt so weird to feel your frame move when you didn’t tell it to. Bumblebee tried to regain command over his frame but it all turned out fruitless. He had lost all control of his frame, he was basically on the same level as a radio control toy at the moment.

“Where are you taking me?” Bumblebee asked while they walked into the hallway and started going back in the direction Bumblebee had come from.

“Oh I’m just taking you to where you’re going to be staying during your stay here”

“Staying?” Bumblebee asked and raised an optic ridge.

“Yes, you need someplace to be for your time here” Master Disaster responded like it was common knowledge. 

Bumblebee felt so confused. He had about one hundred different questions ruining around inside his helm. He looked down the corridor, everything looked the same. Just a long stone hallway, it was almost maddening. 

“Where am I? What is this place?” Bumblebee asked Master Disaster that just as much he was just thinking out loud.

“You can call this place, my new place of operations. And don’t even try to use your HUV or whatever you call it to figure out where you are.”

“HUD” Bumblebee corrected.

“Whatever. I disabled a lot of its features along with your comm link and sub space.” Bumblebee turned and looked at him with big optics.

“You what?!” Master Disaster gave him a self satisfied smirk.

“I couldn’t have you use it to cheat or try to escape.” He frowned slightly. “Sadly so couldn’t I figure out how to get rid of those weapons of yours”

“Stingers” Bumblebee corrected again. "Wait, cheat? Cheat on what?" Bumblebee understod the escape part, but what was the part about cheating.

“Like I said, all will be reveal in due time." He went back to topic off Bumblebees stinger. "So anyway, I couldn’t get rid of them, so I had to settle with putting those bracelets on your wrists. They will keep you from being able to pull them out at least”.

They made a right turn. At the end of the hall so was it to Bumblebees surprise iron bars and a cell door. Door was gigantic. Way too big for a human. Master Disaster walked to the wall next to the bars where a data pad was. He typed in a code and the door swung open.

“Have a nice stay. Oh, and play nice with your new roommate” 

“What roommat-?” Bumblebee didn’t get to finish. 

He involuntary stumbled into the cell. He tripped over his own peds and fell onto the hard stone floor. The floor was dusty and a cloud of particles flew up into the air that made Bumblebee cough. Master Disaster closed the door behind him which made a loud click sound when it locked again. The sound echoed inside the cell and out into the hallway.

Bumblebee sat up, noticing he could move his own frame again and started to dust himself off. He was a bit angry that the hallway had been spot free, but the cell he was supposedly staying in so was the floor covered with a layer of dust, like no one had bother to clean this room for quite some time.

That's when he heard movement to his left side. It was the sound of moving and rustling from chains. Bumblebee turned his helm towards the noise. It was darker in the cell then out in the corridor because there was not an actual light source in the cell, all the light came from the lamps in the hallway, so it took a moment for his optics to adjust and make out what it was that was making the noise.

Suddenly so did two glowing crimson coloured dots lit up. One dot was much larger than the other. It took Bumblebee a moment to figure out what they were but to his horror he realised that they were optics and not only that, he also saw to which mech they belonged to. Blitzwing. 

Blitzwings optics, to Bumblebees relief did not focus on him but instead turned towards Master Disaster who was still standing outside the cell observing them. Blitzwings optics narrowed and his faceplate spun with a whirl to the Hotheaded persona which made Bumblebee flinch. Blitzwing let out scream in rage and tried to move towards the cell bars. The sound of chains rang out into the cell and Bumblebee noticed that Blitzwings wrists was chained to the wall. The chains were short but Blitzwing still had some movement, they were long enough to let him sit down on the ground, but standing up straight might be a problem. He snarled towards Master Disaster and bared his denta.

“Release me now you organic filth so I can rip you to shreds!” Master Disaster shook his head.

“Still threatening me, are we?” He said with a smirk. It looked like Master Disaster was not at all afraid or surprised by Blitzwing reaction which made Bumblebee guess that this was not the first time this kind of situation had happened.

“Don’t mock me! I’ll crush you into a stain on the floor!” Blitzwing screamed at him. Blitzwing moved and yanked on the chains holding him, trying to put enough strain on them to break, but he was unsuccessful. He fought with them for a moment before he stopped and filled his vents with new air. 

Bumblebee started to carefully crawl backwards towards the other side of the cell, so far away from Blitzwing he could. He tried to be quiet, but it seemed like he was not quiet enough. Blitzwing helm snapped towards him. Bumblebee immediately froze on the spot, like that would somehow make him invisible to Blitzwing optics. 

“Autobot…” He growled in a dangerous voice. Bumblebee ditched the whole be quiet and stand still idea and scrambled up to his peds and ran to the bars and looked at Master Disaster with pleading optics.

“You can’t leave me here with him!” Bumblebee said and pointed a digit towards Blitzwing. Master Disaster scoffed.

“You’re being dramatic”

“No, you don’t understand! He’s a Decepticon and I’m an Autobot! We are enemies!"

“Potato, patato, and either way so is he tied up” He retorted.

“No it’s not the same! Bots and cons are very different!” Bumblebee yelled right at Master Disaster face. “He will destroy, or eat me, or something, the first chance he'll get! If he breaks free he will offline me!” Master Disaster gave Bumblebee a smirk and casual shrug.

“That sounds like a _you_ problem” And with that he turned around and walked away without looking back. Bumblebee watched him disappear and screamed after him.

“Come back here! You can’t just walk off!” He then heard a big exhale of air and Bumblebee froze. Slowly so did Bumblebee look back towards Blitzwing who was still on Hothead, which was not in the slightest comforting. Not that any of Blitzwings faceplates were ‘comforting’ but between the three of them so did he prefer the blue one.

“Uhhh...Hi.” His voice cracked. He cleared his throat and hoped that Blitzwing had missed it. A low growl rumble from Blitzwing.

“You have ten nanoseconds to tell me what's going on before i snap your helm off” Bumblebee put his servos up in a defensive gestured.

“Chill three face. I’m as confused about this as you are” Blitzwings scowl deepend. Maybe insulting him had not been the best idea. Blitzwing was chained to the wall but Bumblebee knew that Blitzwing was strong, so it was probably just a matter of time before the chains would brake. But for the moment so was Blitzwings movement limited. Suddenly so did Bumblebee see Blitzwing swing out his leg towards him in an alarming speed.

Bumblebee jumped backwards and slammed his back into the the wall opposite of Blitzwing. The cell was just big enough so that Blitziwings kick couldn’t reach him. Bumblebee’s could hear his spark beating in his audio receptors. That kick had been a bit too close for his liking. 

“Don’t lie to me bug! What kind of Autobot trick is this?” Blitzwing barked at him from across the room. Bumblebee decide to stay with his back against the wall, just to be sure that Blitzwing wouldn’t get the chance to hurt him. It made him look like wimp but Bumblebee would rather look a bit like a scaredy cat than getting kicked to scrap metal.

“I’m not lying! And this is not a trick!” He yelled back. “I don’t know what’s going on!” Blitzwing tried to kick him again but noticed that he was too far away. He let out an annoyed sound and glared at Bumblebee. His faceplate suddenly spun and the Random persona appeared grinning his characteristic jagged grin.

“Hey, I wanna show you something! Can you step a bit closer?” He was speaking in a joyful, mischievous tone. But even though he had a playful air around him so didn’t Bumblebee relax in the slightest. He knew that this faceplate was just as dangerous and malicious as Blitzwings other two and this one was the most unpredictable one. 

When Bumblebee didn’t humor Blitzwings request in the slightest so did his faceplate switch back to Hothead.

“When I get out of these chains so will I tear your spark out of you chest” Bumblebee scoffed.

" _If_ you get out” He muttered to himself.

“What was that?!” Blitzwing growled like he was daring Bumblebee to repeat it. Bumblebees optics scanned over Blitzwing and noticed that his cannons were gone and his wings had their own cuff like contraption on them which probably would make him unable to transform or even take flight. That filled Bumblebee with a bit more confident. He couldn’t use his stingers but he could still transform and use his wheels.

It probably was a bad idea to tease the big mech. But Bumblebee couldn't help himself. He gave Blitzwing smug look.

“I said IF you get out” Blitzwing lurched forward making the chains make a horrible rattling noise and a scraping noise when the handcuffs around Blitzwings wrist scraped against his plating. Bumblebee looked at him struggle to exhaustion. When he finally stopped so switched his faceplate to Icy and glared at Bumblebee. His optics were cold and it felt like they were digging into Bumblebee. It felt very uncomfortable.

“What are you looking at insect?” He said coldly, his voice still threatening, but also emotionless. Bumblebee knew that Blitzwing couldn’t hurt him but he didn’t want to escalate the situation further, he had his own things to deal with for the moment either way. So he sat down onto the floor with his back towards the bars and stared at the wall, or pretty much anywhere that wasn’t Blitzwing.

He could hear how Blitzwing continued to struggle with the chains. Not as vigorously as before but, he was still fighting against them. Bumblebee sighed. 

He pulled his knees close to his chest and he leaned his helm on the wall. And tried to asses the situation.

 _Okay, I was capture by_ _Master Disaster. He doesn't seem to care if I live or not so whatever he will do probably will either definitely offline me,_ That sent a shiver through Bumblebees frame, _Or place me in a life threatening situation._ Both options was not ideal but despite that so had Bumblebee a clear preference of which he hoped Master Disaster would go with. 

He heard Blitzwing yank extra hard on his chains and Bumblebee quickly glanced at him before just as quickly returning to staring at the wall.

 _Well, look at the brights side. It could be a lot worse. I could have been trapped with Megatron._ Bumblebee realised that was not very comforting. No matter which con he would have been stuck with so would it still be a bad situation. He guessed he just had to be happy that Blitzwing was tied up and that he was for the moment not at risk for getting hurt by him.

Bumblebee felt exhausted a his headache had returned and he was still pretty sore. He was also a bit angry at himself. That he was in this situation was his own fault and he knew it very well. If only he had waited for the other this might not have happen.

 _Primus I’m gonna get it when I meet the rest of the team again._ He could already hear Optimus voice nagging him while his optics slowly closed and he fell into recharge. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The link to my tumblr is: https://tastytoast---11.tumblr.com/


	2. Chapter 2

Bumblebee’s optics flew open and he noticed the whole room was shaking. He scanned around the room looking for some explanation for the suddenly shaking.  He saw Blitzwing on the other side of the room opened his optics also. He looked around the room before his optics found Bumblebee and his expression turned sour.

“What did you do bug?!” He snarled. Bumblebee scowled at him.

“What did I do? What did you do!?”

Suddenly the sound of machinery filled the room, and the wall opposite of the bars suddenly started to move. Bumblebee stared at at with big optics as he saw the wall go upwards and disappear, like an electric garage door opening.

He just stood there like a statue for a moment. Slowly and carefully so did he walk up to the new opening and looked around.He was well aware this could be a trap, but he was to curious to not check it out. He was a bit taken back of what he saw when he reached the opening.

It was a big room, about the size of a stadium. He was on the field level.The field had metal bars around it that went all the way to the floor an all sides except one, that went into the wall and had a big door. Bumblebee looked up and saw that the metal bars meet above him and the whole setup reminded him of a bird cage. Beyond the bars were on one side a balcony like thing. If you climbed up the bars and made a big enough hole so could you with easily jump to it. 

The only thing on the balcony was a machine in a box like shape, from what Bumblebee could tell so was it probably 1x1 meter. He was forced to squint to see what was ontop of it but it looked the top side of the machine was completely covered with buttons. The other thing on the balcony was an extravagant chair that stood behind the machine.  Behind the chair so was a big grandiose door.

Something caught the ceiling lamps light and glimmered which caught his optics and he noticed that on the other side of the bars were there cameras mounted on the walls, all looking down onto the field. He turned around in a circle and noticed the whole room was covered with them. He didn't know if there were on or not but they made him a bit uncomfortable. But either way so did he puff out his chest a little and tried to look heroic and confident. If he was on camera he better look good.

In contrast to the gloomy cell so was this room very well lit.

Bumblebee didn’t trust the big room, something felt off and he was about to walk backwards back into the cell when he heard two  _ clicks _ coming from behind him.

The unexpected sound made Bumblebee spun on a dime and looked behind him and saw that Blitzwing was rubbing his now free wrists. Bumblebee felt his whole frame freeze over and suddenly regretted that he had teased the triple changer yesterday. Was it yesterday? Bumblebee didn't actually have a good way to know how much time had gone by.

Blitzwing helm slowly turned and looked at Bumblebee with narrow optics. Bumblebee immediately started to back away, out into the big room again.

Blitzwing slowly stood. He stretched his legs a bit, probably feeling stale after sitting in the same position for a long time. He then took his sweet time to follow Bumblebee into the big room as well. He looked around. His monocle zoomed in and out as he took in the big room. As fast he got out so did the wall to their cell go down again. Locking them out in the arena

Bumblebee thought for a moment Blitzwing had forgotten him, or just ignored him which Bumblebee would have been fine with. But suddenly so did Blitzwings optics snap back to Bumblebee and in one big movement so did he launch himself forward and slammed Bumblebee into the sand. Bumblebee let out a yelp of surprise and felt all the air in his vents momentarily disappear as he hit the ground. The sand on the floor got kicked up into the air. Bumblebee accidentally inhaled some which forced him to cough. Blitzwing was now above Bumblebee, he grabbed a hold of Bumblebees wrist and held them down. His grip was so tight that he was on the edge of actually damaging them. His big frame was blocking the light from ceiling lamps so his giant shadow was completely over Bumblebees frame like a blanket.

They were now staring right into each other optics just inches apart, they were so close Bumblebee could feel Blitzwing hot breath on his faceplate. Bumblebee stared into Blitzwing cold emotionless crimson optics and Blitzwing stared into Bumblebees blue surprised and afraid ones. Bumblebee was terrified. Blitzwing had the reputation of being crazy and Bumblebee didn’t doubt it. He was pretty sure if Blitzwing wanted so could he snap his wrist or tear them completely off without batting an optic. 

“You’re gonna tell me what’s going on, right now or else I’ll break you pathetic little twigs you call arms” He said in a frame chilling voice and squeezed Bumblebees wrist a bit further which sent a ping of pain through his arms. Bumblebee mind started racing. He was pretty sure that Blitzwing no longer would take ‘i don’t know’ as an answer so he needed to figure something out, and quick.

He acted more on instinct than an actual thought, it was like his frame moved on its own. He pulled one of his knees up and he was able to hit Blitzwing in the chin. He got a fairly good hit, both in speed and strength, Bumblebee might not be the strongest bot or fighter, but that kneeing gotta hurt. 

Blitzwing let out a hiss in agony and let got of one of Bumblebees wrist and took a hold of his chin in pain. Bumblebee quickly took a handful of sand from the ground and threw it at Blitzwings faceplate while he momentarily closed his own so the sand would not also rain down into his own optics. Blitzwing let out an annoyed growl and started to try to blink away the sand. While he was blinded so used Bumblebee his free arm to punch Blitzwing right in the optic. It was a bit of a cheap shoot but all is fair in love and war.

Blitzwing let out a sound in pain and completely let go of Bumblebees other arm and held his servo over his attacked optic and leaned a bit away from Bumblebee. Bumblebee immediately started to scramble backwards, kicking up sand everywhere, trying to get away so he was not directly under Blitzwing. Then he in a hurry got up on his peds and transformed and drove away, putting so much distance between him and the triple changer that he could. He was worried that Blitzwing would be more pissed off now that Bumblebee had attacked him.

As fast he was out of immediate harm so did he calm down a bit. It felt like his whole frame was running on survival instincts. He was actually a bit impressed with himself, that he had been able to escape. It was probably a combination of the fighting response and Blitzwing underestimating him that let him flee from Blitzwing clutches, but Bumblebee liked to believe that he had been all on him.

“I told you before!” Bumblebee yelled at him, now that he was way out of his reach. “I don’t know anything! Get that through your thick helm!” Blitzwing had finally gotten rid of the sand and pulled his servo away from his optic. He glared at Bumblebee before his faceplate spun to the black one with the jagged grin. He was smiling but Bumblebee could tell that he was pissed.

“Ohh~ The little Autobot wants to play tag! I’m happy to oblige!” He said in voice that sounded joyful but there was a threatening undertone to it. Blitzwing stood up and started sprinting towards Bumblebee. Bumblebee prepared to try to drive away. 

Blitzwing had long legs and could run pretty quickly. But there was no way he would be able to keep up with Bumblebees altmode. If Blitzwing decided to chase Bumblebee it would come down to if Bumblebee could drive around, or Blitzwing could run the longest.

He didn’t need to think about it for a long time, because suddenly a loud siren like sound rang out. Blitzwing stopped dead in his tracks and put his servos over his audio receptors. Bumblebee transformed back to his bot mode and did the same. The siren was extremely loud and high pitched and made it hard to think. Just as quick as the sound had started so did it disappear and a voice rang out.

“I think that's quite enough” The big doors to the balcony swung open and in walked Master Disaster. He walked all the way to the chair and sat down. 

Blitzwing turned his sight from Bumblebee and instead stared at Master Disaster with hate in his optics. He tried move his wings but the cuff like thing on them made him unable to move them. Blitzwing let out a hiss in annoyance and instead chose to run up to bars that went around the arena. He grabbed them, and it looked like he was going to try to bend them but instead so did he let out a sound of pain and let go of the bars and started to shake his servos like he just had grabbed something hot.

“I wouldn’t do that if I was you” Master Disaster said in a glee full tone of voice. “The bars are electrified” He explained. Blitzwing growled and his faceplate switched to Hothead.

“Come down here and say that to my faceplate!” 

“No, I don’t think I will”. Master Disaster simply answered. Bumblebee joined in on their conversation.

“What are you planing? Why did you kidnap me?” Master Disaster lifted one eyebrow.

“Why did I kidnap you?” He said it like he was wondering himself. He then frowned. “I give you three guesses” Bumblebee threw his arms out in annoyance.

“Is this about me being involved with you going to prison and getting your  _ illegal _ show canceled?” 

“Right on the money” He responded in a slightly angry voce. “You took my show away from me. But don’t worry, with the money I had left and another one of these blue rock thingamajigs so was I able to start a new show. One that I will not only make me filthy rich but also allow me to get revenge on the one responsible for my show getting canceled.” Blitzwings faceplate spun back to icy.

“Then why am I here? I did not end you show or helped with your capture” He asked in a monotone voice. Master Disaster turned his eyes from Bumblebee to Blitzwing.

“I read the police report. You are the reason the Autobots started snooping around, and you destroyed my trailer with equipment and truck so I couldn’t get away when the police showed up!” Blitzwing frowned a little and pointed towards Bumblebee.

“The truck got destroyed because the Autobots sent me out of the sky, I had no say in it. And how in Primus name was I supposed to know that the Autobots would get involved?” He sounded annoyed. Master Disaster shrugged.

“It doesn't really matter if you knew or not, it was still you who did it. You were one of the causes for my down fall." He growled "And either way-" he started in a more carefree voice "so have I spent way to much money and energy on this just to let you go, and I’m pretty sure you’ll kill me the first chance you get if i let you free” Blitzwings jaw twitched a little but he didn't disagree with that theory. 

Bumblebee thought for a second about what Master Disaster had just said and his frame suddenly went cold and he quickly spoke up.

“Are you getting revenge on everyone involved with you capture? Is Sari here?!”He said and looked around like he was expecting her to pop out of thin air. Master Disaster raised an eyebrow again.

“The little girl?” Bumblebee nodded. Master Disaster waved one of his hand dismissively. “Nah, she just a little girl. I am a villain, not a monster. I’m not gonna put little children in danger...But I have no problem with putting machines in the line of fire.” Bumblebee let out a sigh of relief. Sure he was still in deep trouble but at least so wasn’t Sari involved. If she was Bumblebee would have felt a lot worse. He would blame himself if she was here because it was him that had taken her racing. Blitzwing huffed.

“Great, your little pet is safe, but what about us? What would you have us do?” Bumblebee stared at Blitzwing. He had a point. They actually didn't know yet why they were actually here. He turned his optics back to Master Disaster.

“Ya” Bumblebee joined in. “What would you have us do? Another race?” Bumblebee snickered. “Not to rain on your parade but Blitzwing is not exactly what I would call fast, on foot.” Blitzwings faceplate switched back to Hothead

“I will be faster than you, after i have ripped your legs off!” 

“You’d still have to catch me first” Bumblebee responded in a confident voice, but he still took a couple steps away from the con, just in case. Their arguing got cut off when Master Disaster spoke up again.

“No, no. I’m not interested in racing anymore. I have my sight on another type of show” he was quiet for a moment for dramatic tension. “Gladiators” 

“Gladiators?” Bumblebee asked and cocked his helm to the side.

“Yeah for the most part, I might throw in some other stuff to mix stuff up, you know.” 

“You would have me and Blitzwing fight each other?” Bumblebee asked and glanced over to the big mech. He had been able to escape him once but Blitzwing would probably not underestimate him again and Bumblebee didn't like his odds at taking down the triple changer.

“No, no, that would end the show quite quickly, wouldn't it?" Master Disaster answered which put Bumblebee a bit at ease. "No I’m gonna milk this thing and show it to the world and make thousand upon thousand worth of dollars.” 

“You won’t get away with this!” Bumblebee shouted and waved a fist towards him “My team will find out about the broadcast and come and find me!” Bumblebee half excepted Blitzwing to make a similar claim but he kept his mouth shut.

“Oh please, like i wouldn’t have thought of that beforehand”. Master Disaster chuckled. “I made the broadcast untraceable, and don’t believe they will find you through your signals either. As long as you stay here, you might as well have disappeared from the face of the earth” Blitzwing raised his voice again.

“If we are not supposed to fight each other...Then what are we supposed to fight?” 

Master Disaster lips turned into a big smile.

“I'm glad that you asked my free faced friend. But it would not be so fun to just tell you. So why not show you?” He clicked a button on the machine in front of him. 

The big door in the arena wall that had been closed so far opened and about 8 robots came out. Many of them looked about the same. Only one of them looked a lot more sturdy than the others and some of the standard looking robots were holding swords and axes, the other were walking in with nothing but their fists as weapons. The walked in and the door closed shut behind them.

“So this is how this game is gonna work” Master Disaster shouted down to them. “You’ll have to fight the common brain less robots I throw at you and you need to destroy them all. If you succeed you get to continue to be a part of the show”

“And what if we fail?” Bumblebee looked up at him and asked.

“Then the robots will offline you. Good luck!” And with that he pressed one more button and the robots came rushing towards them. 

Three of them ran towards Blitzwing and whilst the other ran towards Bumblebee. One of the three that was coming Bumblebees way was the sturdy looking robot. Bumblebee immediately transformed and started driving around keeping some distance between him and the robots while he tried to figure out what to do. 

From the corner of his optics he saw Blitzwing and his vastly different response. Instead of running so was he approaching the robots. When the first one made contact with him he grabbed what looked like its head with one servo and just closed it. When he opened his servo again so fell the robot the ground, unmoving and it head looked like it was ready for the scrap yard. Another one approached with a longsword. It took a swing towards the triple changer and hit his chestplate. The sword dragged across his chest making a horrible noice when metal hit metal. The blade went across his chest plate but left nothing but a scratch. Blitzwings faceplate switched to Random. He grabbed a hold of the robots arm that was holding the sword and bent it so much it the metal groaned, and finally snapped. The sword fell out of the hand of the ripped off arm down unto the ground. Blitzwing quickly picked it up and then just stabbed it right into the middle of the robots chest whilst he let out a horrible laugh.

Bumblebee turned back his focus to his own pursuers. He couldn’t take them all on at once, he needed an advantage. Suddenly he got an idea. He made an U turn and drove back towards the robots chasing him. Before he got too close so started he making donuts around them. The robots kept spinning on the spot trying to keep up with him whilst he drove round and around. Sand got kicked up into the air and started to incase both Bumblebee and the robots in a cloud of sand. Bumblebee continued until it was almost impossible to see what was going on in the cloud. When he was finally satisfied so did he drive a bit back before with all his speed he just went forward right into the cloud. Inside the cloud he felt something hit his hood and went under his wheels but he just continued forward. He came out on the other side of the cloud and immediately made an U turn and went right back in and hit something again but just as before so did he just continue forward. 

He got out of the dust cloud again but as fast as he did he slammed his break. 

Soaring through the air was a robot and it was headed right towards him.  Bumblebee quickly transformed and leapt to the side. He landed on the sandy floor and rolled a couple of times before he completely stopped. He hastily got back up his peds and turned towards the direction the robot had been coming from and saw Blitzwing who was at the moment occupied with trying to grab a particularly fast robot. Bumblebee put his servo in a circle and used them as a megaphone and screamed towards him.

“Watch where you’re throwing those things you big oaf!” Blitzwing was able to slap the robot which was sent flying. It hit the floor and skipped a couple of time like a skipping rock. Blitzwing turned his helm momentarily turned towards Bumblebee and his faceplate turned to Icy.

“If you don’t want to get hit, don’t get in my way” Bumblebee threw out his arms and gestured around the arena.

“You have the whole arena and you still throw them towards me!” Blitzwings faceplate switched to Random again and turned back to the robot he had just sent flying that was now getting up again, but he still shouted a response to Bumblebee.

“Did i hurt the bugs little feelings? Are you going to cry? Is the little bug gonna cry?” He said and laughed. Bumblebee scowled before he heard a sound behind him. He turned around and was just in time too dodge when what looked like the only remaining robot took a swing at him with its fist. It was the sturdy looking one. His spark skipped a beat. He had forgotten for a moment that he was still in a fight and the attack had surprised him.

Bumblebee took a few steps back. When the surprise settled a little so did his lips turn into a smirk. He started to run and the robot followed closely behind him.

“Come on you slow poke! Keep up!” He yelled at it as he was running straight towards Blitzwing who at the moment had his back turned towards him. Bumblebee was a bit worried about getting so close to him, but if this turned out like he hoped so would it would be worth it. 

Blitzwing seemed focused on a robot he had just defeated and didn’t notice Bumblebee approaching. He started to run faster, building up momentum before he got down and sledded between Blitzwings legs. Bumblebee then got up on his peds again and continued forward.

He turned looked over his shoulder and meet Blitzwings optics. He looked surprised and at the moment stunned. Bumblebee gave him a mischievous smirk.

“He’s your problem now!” He scream back to him as he watched the robot that had been chasing him slammed into Blitzwing from behind.

Blitzwing stumbled forward a couple of steps forward and was close to falling but was (to Bumblebee disappointment) able to catch himself before he fell and turned around and looked at his attacker and his faceplate switched to Hothead. He grabbed the robots shoulder with one servo and with the other he punched the robot straight in what can only be considered its face. When the fist connected so did he let go with his other servo and the robot fell to the ground. Blitzwing grabbed both its legs and like he was throwing a sledgehammer so did he start spinning around and around before he let go and the robot was sent flying several meters up in the air before it hit the iron bars and then fell onto the floor in a big crash and a cloud of sand and didn't get up.

Bumblebee could only stare. He was both impressed and utterly terrified of Blitzwings raw strength. Bumblebee shook his helm and looked over the arena and noticed all the robots had been dealt with. He then turned back to Blitzwing and noticed he was staring right at him with a scowl. Probably very unhappy with the little trick Bumblebee just had pulled. Bumblebee prepared to transform and put some distance between him and Blitzwing in case the big mech would try to tackle him again,

An applaud rang out and both Bumblebee and Blitzwing turned towards the sound and saw that it was Master Disaster who was clapping.

“Well done!" He called down to them "You survived your first battle, impressive” Bumblebee walked a bit closer to the balcony so he didn’t have to shout so loudly.

“What now? Do we fight the next wave or what?” Master Disaster pressed a button and the door to Bumblebees and Blitzwings cell opened again. 

“Nah, that wouldn’t make great tension building. This is enough for today. Go back to your cell for now” Blitzwing glared at him and crossed his arms over his chest.

“I don’t take orders from you” He barked. Master Disaster seemed a little annoyed by Blitzwings rebellion but that quickly disappeared and got replaced with a taunting smile.

“It’s not a choice. You either get back into your cell willingly, or by force.” Blitzwing huffed.

“If you think I’m afraid of a threat from an organic your greatly mistaken” Master Disaster shrugged.

“Fine then. We’ll do it the hard way.” Suddenly so did Master Disaster pull something out from his jacket and pointed it at Blitzwing. Bumblebee immediately recognised it as the controller with the all spark fragment in it. Master Disaster activated it and Blitzwings frame suddenly went stiff. 

His bared his denta and hissed and Bumblebee watched Blitzwing walk all the way back to the cell and placed his wrist seemingly willingly back into the hand cuffs. As fast as he did that the handcuffs clasped close by themselves and Blitzwing was chained up once again and Bumblebee let out a sigh of relief. Master Disaster turned off the controller and looked down at Bumblebee. 

“Also, it might be of your interest to know that if you don’t do as I say so won’t you be feed. So what’s it gonna be?” He said with a devilish smirk. 

Bumblebee looked towards the cell where he saw Blitzwing, who was once again fighting against the chains and he started to consider his options. 

It would be a bit humiliating to just do as a villain said. But if he didn’t do what he told him to do so would he just force him into the cell and he would not get feed. So it was either his pride taking a hit and walking into the cell, or keep his pride, be forced to walk back to the cell and go around with and empty tank. The fact of the matter was that no matter what so was still going to end up in the cell no matter what he chose. Bumblebee thought it over for a moment before letting out an annoyed sigh and walked into the cell of his own terms. He didn't like it, not for a moment but he preferred not to walk around with an empty tank.His ego and pride would take a hit but could always get them back by doing something heroic or cool when he got out of this place.

“Good choice” He heard Master Disaster say behind but Bumblebee ignored him. 

As fast as he entered the cell so did the wall close behind him. 

Bumblebee glanced up at Blitzwing and noticed that he was glaring daggers at him. Bumblebee shoot him a short glare before ignoring him and sitting down in the corner he had been recharging in last night. 

Soon he heard the sound of someone approaching the cell. He looked down the hallway and saw another robot, it looked a bit different from the ones they had been fighting. It looked more fragile.

It walked up to the door of the cell, in one hand so did it have a barrel of oil. It turned towards Bumblebee and a monotone robotic sound came out of it. It had no hint of emotion and it sounded a lot like a text to speech program.

“Step away from the bars” Bumblebee rolled his optics and stood up. He kept to the wall so he still was out of Blitzwings kicking range and walked all the way to the back of the cell. 

The robot pressed some buttons on the datapad on the wall and then the door opened. It walked in and put the oil at the entrance.

“Oil, for the yellow one” It said and then closed the door again and walked away. Bumblebee walked up to the bars and watched it go further and further away from the cell. 

"I have a name!"He shouted after it didn't react, it jut continued forward and soon it turned and disappeared out of Bumblebees sight. Bumblebee pushed the robot out os his kind and instead approached and picked up the barrel and looked down into it. It was filled with oil.

Bumblebees tank suddenly rumbled. He hadn’t noticed how hungry he had been until this exact moment.He put the barrel to his lips and started taking big gulps from it. It was not very good, but it was drinkable and he hadn't really expected something fancy.

He glanced to the side and saw that Blitzwing was watching him. He got a snarky grin on his lips and stopped drinking and addressed him.

“Are you jealous?” Blitzwing rolled his optics.

“Hardly.” He answered and just continued to stare at him. Bumblebee turned his back to Blitzwing and continued drinking.  He felt Blitzwings optics burn into his back and he couldn’t help but to feel uncomfortable. He glanced over his shoulder and saw the cold red optics.  He shivered. Sure, Hothead was the most dangerous and by that default the most scary faceplate, but Icys stare had the ability to put uneasy into a bot without actually doing anything.

He thought for a moment about sitting down again and that was when he realised that if not the game show or Blitzwing would offline him so would boredom do it. The cell was pretty much empty and there was literally nothing to do. Blitzwing could at leats fight the chains but Bumblebee had nothing to do. Bumblebee sighed and turned around so he looked down the hallway. It was completely empty and the walls were coloured whit. There was not even any decorations of any kind. No painting, plants or similar stuff. Just a white bland hallway. Who ever had designed this place either had a personal vendetta against colours and decorations of any kind or had absolutely zero creativity.

Bumblebees optics glanced over to the wall on his side of the cell and saw the data pad they used to open and lock the cell door. He noticed it was not actually very far away from the cell.  _ If I could reach it so could I maybe figure out the code and unlock the door.  _

Bumblebee grasped the bars and shook the slightly, to test their sturdiness. They didn’t move one inch so he stooped pretty quickly. The space between the bars were not large enough for him to slip between them but his arm was thin enough to go through without any problem. He pressed his whole frame against the bars and tried to reach the pad. He tried his best to stretch his arm out as much as possibly, but it was still too short. Bumblebee let out a grunt in annoyance. 

He ditched the reaching plan for the moment. He was not going to be able to reach the pad unless he could get just a bit closer or his arm magically grew a bit longer.

Bumblebee wedged one of his shoulders between the bars and then put a ped to another one and tried to push enough strength into it to make the bars bend. He gritted his denta and pushed with all his might, but all he succeeded with was to tire himself out. Bumblebee stood up normally again a took a couple of breathes and stared at the bars like they had personally offended him. In a pure act of frustration so did he kick the bars, which he quickly regretted. 

A close to electric pain travel from his ped throughout his whole frame.  He hissed in pain and swore under his breath and momentarily sat down rubbing his hurt ped.  He heard a loud cackling laugh from his right side. Bumblebee glanced over towards Blitzwing and saw that he was on Random and was laughing his aft off. Bumblebee glared at him. 

“Laugh it up Blitzbrain” He snarled. Blitzwing stopped laughing for a moment. His grin was wide and he seemed to be enjoying himself.

“Do it again! Do it again!” He hooted joyfully. “Next time it will bend for sure!” He said and let out another laugh. Bumblebee made a face towards him and then just walked over and sat down in his corner again and fiddled with the now empty barrel of oil. He drummed on it with his digits and sighed. This was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My government have chosen to close down my school because of the virus, so now I have school from home through my computer :/  
> I hope you all are doing well and stay healthy! Remember to wash your hands and all that jazz!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a headcannon that, because Blitzwing and Bumblebee have the same voice actor so can they mimic each others voices pretty well.

Bumblebee woke up again by the wall lifting revealing the arena. He stood up and glanced out into the big room. The arena was completely empty at the moment. Bumblebee waisted no time. He transformed and drove all the way to the other side of the arena, as far as way from the cell as he could.

Blitzwings shackles opened a bit after the wall lifted so Bumblebee figured out that if he was quick so could he get a good distance between him and Blitzwing before he got free. Bumblebee had decided that he would not allow Blitzwing to jump him again. If that situation repeated so wouldn’t Blitzwing underestimate him again. 

Shortly after so did Blitzwing cuffs unlock and he walked out of the cell and stretched his frame. He stared at Bumblebee across the arena but otherwise ignored his existence. He didn't yell at him or tried to attack him. He just watched him with cold optics.

The grand door on the balcony opened and Master Disasters walked in and immediately started talking.

“You know the drill! Let’s begin!” And the door opened and the robots came out and Blitzwing and Bumblebee took battle stances. 

Bumblebee dusted himself off. This time it had been a bit easier because he had been able to prepare for the fight that was coming.He glanced over to Blitzwing. He was also fine. Master Disasters voice rang out.

“Good work! I need to step up my game, that looked way too easy for you. So now to the next part…Are you going to go back to your cell willingly?”

Bumblebee looked towards Blitzwing to see his reaction. Blitzwing was on Icy at the moment. His optic were narrow and his faceplate was emotionless. He looked directly at Master Disaster before he spitted in his direction. Master Disaster gritted his teeth slightly in annoyance, before he made a dismissive shrug.

“Your loss. You're just prolonging the inevitable.” Blitzwing faceplate switched to the Random. He lifted his servo up. He made it so his thumb was meeting his other digits and moved his digits up and down, symbolising a mouth just yapping away. Bumblebee had to put in a lot of effort not to let out a chuckle but he couldn’t help that he was smiling. It was not even that funny, but the knowledge that he wasn’t allowed to laugh made it so much harder to contain.

Master Disaster scowled slightly and pulled out the controller and forced Blitzwing to return to the cell. After Blitzwing was securely locked up so did Master Disaster turn to Bumblebee and noticed he was smiling. 

“Do you wanna say something?” He he hissed. Bumblebee shook his helm and quickly walked towards the cell whilst holding a servo over his mouth trying to hide the smile.

The wall closed again and he walked back to his side of the cell. 

Soon so came the feeder robot appeared with a new barrel of oil.

“Place the old barrel by the door” It said in its robotic tone. Bumblebee took the empty barrel and placed it right by the door. “Now step back” Bumblebee backed up and looked closely as the robot tapped in the code into the data pad. The door swung open, it placed down the new full barrel and picked up the old empty one before it closed the door again and walked off.

Bumblebee picked up the barrel and followed the robot with his optics, watching it walk down the hallway and out of his sight. Suddenly so did an idea enter his helm. No not an idea, a plan. A plan for escape.

The feeder robot came and left oil everyday. And every time it did that so did it open the door. If Bumblebee was quick enough so could he possibly get out of the cell while the robot opened the door to leave the oil. The plan was in no way foolproof, and he didn't really know what he was going to do once he got out, but this was the best he got and why not give it shot. He looked down and looked at the bracelets around his arms and frowned. It would probably be a good idea to try to get these off before he tried his escape plan. Having his stingers back would make him feel a lot more confident with the plan.

He first grabbed one of the bracelets and tried wriggle and snake his arm out of it to no avail. It was stuck on his arm and it was there to stay apparently to Bumblebees annoyment. His optics glanced over to the barrel and he got a new idea.

Bumblebee sat down on the floor with the barrel next to him. He dipped one of his arms in the oil so the bracelet got under the surface. He tried to make the oil sip in between the bracelet. When he decided that that was enough oil so did he pull it up again and tried to make the bracelet slide off. He had hoped that the oil would make it slick enough so he would be able to just pull it off. But he soon noticed that his bracelets still sat on way too tight. That when he fully realised that they were not going to slide off. He needed to find another way.

He suddenly heard a loud rattle of chains and he turned to look at Blitzwing. He was fighting his shackles again. Bumblebee looked at hims struggle for a moment and then down at his own bracelets. Bumblebee thought for a moment but stooped himself. _No, no way. I'm not going to ask a Decepticon for help. There must be another way._

He started to drink what was left of the oil in the barrel whilst he tried to figure out another way to get the bracelets off. Asking a Decepticon for help was embarrassing and even if Blitzwing agreed to help him so was he still unsure if he would actually even trust Blitzwing to lend his help. If he asked Blitzwing to get the bracelets off by tearing them apart or similar so would he be forced to be close to him. That would serving Blitzwing a chance to hurt him on silver platter. He tried to think of another way but he got nothing.

He didn’t like the idea but he didn’t exactly have a lot of options. He was quiet for a moment just psyching himself up. He was not very excited of the idea of talking to Blitzwing, but he just had to bite the bullet. He also waited until Blitzwing stopped rattling the chains. If he wanted him to corporate so would it be a bad idea to “interrupt” him from his chain rattling.

Soon Blitzwing had tired himself out and was taking a minute to fill his vents with new air. Bumblebee took the opportunity to stand up and turned around so he was facing him. Blitzwing noticed Bumblebees movement and that he was looking at him. Their optics meet. Bumblebee had definitely gotten his attention, which was a good start, but it was at this point Bumblebee realised he had no idea how to start the conversation. 

His mind started racing. _You got his attention, now say something! Why am I just standing here?! Say something! Anything! Hurry!_

“Uhh sup Blitzwing” _smooth._ Bumblebee mentally kicked himself. Blitzwing looked over Bumblebees frame from top to bottom, like he was looking for some kind of explanation or hidden motive to Bumblebees sudden desire to speak to him. He he was done so did his optics go back to looking straight into Bumblebees. Blitzwing stare made Bumblebee feel uneasy but he stood his ground.

“What do you want Autobot?” He spit out the word Autobot like it left a bad taste in his mouth. Bumblebee ignored it.

“Okay, look” Bumblebee started. “You hate me. And believe me, the feeling is mutual. But I have an idea of how we can escape.” Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge, it looked like Bumblebee had been able to catch his interest _. Okay, so far so good._ Bumblebee sighed, now for the hard part. He braced himself. It was like ripping off a bandaid. Just do it quick and in one go. “AndIneedyourhelp” He threw the words out of his mouth. He 50% hoped Blitzwing had heard him but he also 50% hope he hadn’t. Blitzwing stared at him for a moment in surprise but quickly so did his faceplate switch and landed on Random. _Oh boy here we go._ Bumblebee mentally groaned.

“What was that last part?” Blitzwing asked in a gleeful voice. Bumblebee knew by that responds that Blitzwing had heard him perfectly fine, he was only making him repeat it so Bumblebee would feel even more humiliated than he already was. Bumblebee huffed a little and actually considered to just drop the whole thing.

He started thinking about his team. He had been gone for at least two days now if he guessed. They must be worried. Bumblebee felt a stab of guilt and sorrow in his spark. 

_Just ask for help and get out of here. My pride can take the hit. Survival over pride_. He repeated to himself.

“I need your help”He said it a lot slower this time so he wouldn’t be forced to say it a third time. Blitzwings grin widened slightly.

“Ohh the little bug needs help from little old me?” He said and let out a loud laugh. Bumblebee was about to respond but Blitzwing started talking again. “So what would the little bitty bug need my help with? Need someone to help you grab something from the highest shelf?” He said in a taunting tone. Bumblebee turned his servos into fists and bit his gloss trying to not snap back at him, but he was making it hard for him. But he if he wanted Blitzwings cooperation so did he have to try to be somewhat polite at least.

“I need you to remove my bracelets” Bumblebee explained in a tight voice as he lifted up his wrist so Blitzwing could see them clearly. Blitzwing shot them a glance before suddenly his faceplate turned back to Icy and his optics narrowed with suspicion.

“And how would that help _us_ escape?” He asked. 

“Okay I don’t have all the detail” Bumblebee admitted. “But if i get my stingers back so will I have more tools and options to escape-” Bumblebee gestured around aimlessly “This place” Blitzwings expression didn’t soften at all by Bumblebees explanation, rather it hardened.

“You want me to make it so you can use your stinger again? So you will be able to leave this place? Please enlighten me on how _I_ win on _you_ escaping” He put a lot of emphasis on the ' _I'_ part making it clear that he was not some charity worker. If Bumblebee wanted his help so would he have to give him something for it.

“Well you see” Bumblebee started. “If i get out, so can I get my team, then we’ll return and free you” Bumblebee had hoped that would have brighten Blitzwing mood, alt least a little, but that seemed to not be the case.

“Tell me autobot,” His voice turned cold and poisonous. “If I freed you from your bracelets what’s keeping you from turning those stingers right back at me?” Bumblebee hadn’t thought about using his stingers to attack Blitzwing until this very moment. He also realised that he actually had no way of ensuring Blitzwing he would not attacking him once he was free from his bracelets.

“I wouldn’t do that” Bumblebee quickly responded. “I’ll use them to escape. And only to escape. Nothing more! You have my word!” Bumblebee made an X over his chest plate. "Cross my spark!" Blitzwing didn’t look convinced.

“Why would i trust your words?” It was more of a statement than a question but it still pulled Bumblebee off his peds.

Blitzwing was right. Why would Blitzwing trust him? What reasons did he have. Bumblebee tried to think of a response but Blitzwing spoke up again before he figured something out.

“How about this” Blitzwing started, his optics turned to the empty barrel of oil that stood in Bumblebees corner. “Once you get new oil you pour it on my wrist so I can try to slip out of them” His voice was slightly lighter now and lacked some of the poison that had been there a moment ago. Blitzwing also moved his wrist a bit making the bracelets slide up and down his wrists. It looked like Blitzwing shackles didn't sit as tight as Bumblebees bracelets were. They were a lot looser and slide up and down and made sounds when they scraped agains Blitzwings plating. Bumblebee didn’t need to think very long about Blitzwing offer before coming with an answer.

“No dice. If I free you so will you offline me” Blitzwings faceplate switched to Hothead and Bumblebee took a step away from him. He wasn’t going to risk getting kicked by the angry persona.

“So I’m supposed to trust and free you, but you won’t trust and free me?!” 

“Of course I won’t trust you! You’re a Decepticon! Deception is literally in your team name!” 

“So what?!” Blitzwing growled “I’m still supposed to trust you? Just, because?” 

“I’m at least an Autobot and a hero! It would make sense to trust me!” 

Blitzwing faceplate spun back to Icy.

“I don’t know if you are so simple minded or if it is just your giant ego that is getting in the way, but if you didn't know so won’t the statement that you’re an Autobot or a “hero” make me trust you more. Especially when you made a robot run into me yesterday” His lips curled up into a taunting smirk. “That was _very_ heroic of you” Bumblebee opened his mouth to say something just to notice what Blitzwing just had said was an ironclad comeback. Bumblebee scrambled to think of a way to respond but he was cut off once again when Blitzwing started speaking.

“Either way so is this conversation pointless. I would not help you, even _if_ I believed you” That comment gave Bumblebee something to work with.

“Why not?” Blitzwing rolled his optics.

“If your so called “plan” actually works, which for the record I doubt, so will I just be changing this cell for another cell.” 

“Perhaps” Bumblebee agreed. “But you would not have to fight in an arena. And you will be treated better” Blitzwings faceplate switched to Hothead again.

“It will be better? It will be better?!” He looked pissed. “Don’t try to fool me Autobot! I have seen bot’s who have escaped the stockade!” That statement gave Bumblebee flash backs from his run in with Wasp. It was true that the stockade changes bots, but maybe Wasp was a one time case or something. Bumblebee shook the thoughts out of his helm. He needed to focus. 

“Okay! How about this, when I get out and come back for you I will convince my team to let you go” Blitzwing let out a dry, dark fake laugh.

“I don’t believe you have the position to convince your team to make such calls, I hardly believe that you will even waste your energy on saving me.” 

“I will save you!” Bumblebee retorted. He saw the chances of Blitzwing helping him slipping between his digits like water. But there was not much he could do to stop it. They didn’t trust each other, both of them feared a betrayal from the other and neither of them had any sort of collateral to give each other. The were at an impasse.

“It’s doesn’t matter. I won’t remove your bracelets” And with that so did Blitzwing turn his helm away from Bumblebee and looked out into the hallway.

Bumblebees fists were shaking and he stomped his peds a few times in frustration. 

“Fine! I will get out, with or without your help!” Blitzwing didn’t even spare him a glance. _I gave him a good deal here. I would have fixed so he could go free after this! But nooo!_ Bumblebee went back to his side of the cell and grabbed his barrel of oil and started to mess with its edges. "Fragging waste of time and effort" He mumbled angrily to himself.

  
  


Some time went by and he calmed down. Bumblebee had no idea how much time had gone by, but after a while so did he accidentally broke off a bit of the barrel. He looked at the broken pice of metal. It was a bit sharp but the metal itself was weak and easily bendable. He tried to cut the bracelets but the piece of the barrel didn’t leave as much as a scratch on the bracelet. Bumblebee looked at the metal and sighed. If the bracelet or the cell door had a lock so could he maybe have pick it. But the door was controlled by the data pad and the bracelets had probably been welded shut. So had no use for it. 

He started scraping it across the stone floor and watched it make a white line after it. He started with using it like a pen and tryed to doodle with it. He made stars, two lines to symbolise how many days he assumed he had been locked up, wrote his own name and once tried to draw the Autobot symbol just to give up nearly immediately when he noticed how hard it was. He soon got tired of drawing and made a game of tic tac toe and just started playing it alone.

Bumblebee finished his fifth round and sighed. If the arena didn’t offline him so would the boredom surely do it. He would do anything to play video games again. He started preparing another round, carve it into the floor. When it was done so did he just look at it. Tic tac toe was not very fun when you were playing it alone. It was not very fun when you were playing with someone either, but when you were playing alone so did you always end up with draws. 

He got snapped out of his thoughts by Blitzwing yanking extra hard on his chains. Bumblebee optics lifted from the game and instead looked up at Blitzwing. He was still rattling his chains but so far as Bumblebee could see was not making any progress. Bumblebee observed him for a moment, and a thought entered his mind. _No, not a chance._ He told himself. He was still a bit mad at him for how their earlier conversation had gone. Blitzwing suddenly noticed that Bumblebee was watching him. His faceplate switched to Hothead.

“What are you gawping at?!” He hissed. Bumblebees optic ridges furled slightly. He didn’t like the idea very much, but he was sooooo bored. So he decided to go ahead with the idea. The worst thing that could happen was that he would scream at him and tell him no.

“Wanna play tic tac toe?” Blitzwing angry expression dropped for a moment. It looked like that was not the response he had expected. That Bumblebees respons had caught him by surprise was a small joy for the minibot. But Blitzwing expression didn’t last very long, soon the scowl reappeared.

“Why in the name of Primus would I humour you?!” Bumblebee rolled his optics and looked down at the un touched round again.

“I just thought it would be a bit less boring for you than rattling your chains like a restless spirit all day.” He huffed. “Sorry I asked” Bumblebee started playing by himself again. He finished the round. While he played so didn’t he hear Blitzwing fight his shackles, and he could feel his optics staring at him. Bumblebee ignored it and just played his game. Another draw. _Who could have seen this coming?_ He sighed and started making another round. He was about to draw the first circle when he heard a whirl sound from Blitzwing.

“I wanna be the cross!” he heard him shout joyfully from the other side of the cell. Bumblebee glanced up and saw that Random was looking at him with expecting optics. Bumblebee looked at him for a moment stunned. _He...He changed his mind? Or was is it just that he is on his random faceplate._ Bumblebee was still not quite sure how the whole faceplate swapping thing worked. Was he one person? Was he three? Could he control his swapping? He was a bit tempted to ask him about it, but decide that if he did that so would he probably just be yelled at and just chose to play along.

“Okay, where do you want it?”

“Middle square! Middle square! Middle square!” He hooted way too enthusiastically. Bumblebee put a cross in the middle box and then put his own circle in the top right square.

“Your turn”

They played for a few rounds. Their conversations was very limited. It was like they didn't want to waste words. It literally went: Bumblebee put down a circle, Blitzwing said where he wanted his to go, Bumblebee put it there and then, repeat. But it was probably for the best that they didn’t say much more.

Both their voices was strained and felt fake. The air felt stale and uncomfortable. It was very clear they didn’t converse because they liked each others company but to escape this tedious boredom.

Bumblebee wasn’t used to use his words so sparingly. Usually so did he go on and on and talk for hours with anyone who had the misfortune to be in his general area. But he didn’t really feel that tempted to engage in conversation with Blitzwing. Even if he was not currently trying to offline him so did he still have this murdering/dangerous air around him, like a predator observing its prey. It was sending chills down Bumblebees back struts.

It helped a bit that he didn’t actually have to look at Blitzwing while they played the game. Bumblebee for the most part just kept his optics locked on the current game they were playing, and didn’t look up at the triple changer.

Nothing interesting happened for a while. Bumblebee started too slowly to zone out. Every round so far had ended with a draw. But Bumblebee got snapped back to reality when he noticed that Blitzwing had placed his X's in a way that would make it impossible for Bumblebee to win. Bumblebee knew that the next round so would Blitzwing win. Bumblebee put down his circle and Blitzwing told him to put his next X in the top row, right side corner. Bumblebee was still for a moment. He knew that if Blitzwing won so would he probably never hear the end of it. And he was not just going to give Blitzwing that bragging right. So it left him with one option. Cheating.

He ignored Blitzwings words and put the X in the top row left corner instead of the right and hoped Blitzwing wouldn't notice. He tried to act casual about it, like he didn't know he had just put the X in the wrong square. But as fast as he had placed down the X so did he hear a whirl sound.

“Thats not were I told you to put it.” Blitzwing said in his cold tone of voice. Bumblebee looked up from the game and tried to fake confusion.

“It wasn’t?” Blitzwings optics narrowed dangerously.

“No. It was not” Bumblebee rubbed the back of his helm nonchalant. 

“Ah. My bad. And I can’t fix it now because I can’t erase it. So guess we just have to start a new round” Blitzwings faceplate switched to Hothead and Bumblebee in that moment realised that Blitzwing hadn’t bought any of his excuses.

“You saw that I was going to win so you took advantage of that I couldn't draw by myself and cheated!” Blitzwing screamed at him. Bumblebees optic ridges furled into a scowl and he tried to look offended.

“Are you calling me a cheater!? This is all on you! You didn’t say were you wanted the cross clearly enough!” He yelled back.

“Do you think I’m stupid?! I have said were I wanted it with the same tone of voice I have every round!” 

“Well, it’s a miracle I have been able to comprehend anything you have been saying so far!" Bumblebee retorted "Your accent is so thick that you might as well be speaking another language!” Blitzwing looked dumbfounded for a moment. Like he couldn’t believe what idiotic thing that had just left Bumblebees mouth.

“My accent!? You’re blaming my accent?!”

“Yes, I am!” Bumblebee quickly responded “Have you listened to yourself? ‘Hello I’m Blitzving and every time I speak people have to try to guess vhat I’m saying’"He said it in a parody of Blitzwing accent, trying to make it sound as thick as possible. Blitzwing frowned.

“Well _I_ at least speak perfect cybertronian and haven’t adopted human jargon!” He snarled back. “Oh look at me! I’m a yellow idiot that speaks with organics!” Blitzwing tried to mimic Bumblebees voice, and it was actually pretty close to what Bumblebee actually sounded like. But there was no way Bumblebee was going to admit that.

“What’s wrong with me using human lingo?!”

“What’s wrong with my accent?!” Blitzwing angrily retorted.

“You know what?!” Bumblebee started. “Fuck this. I’m done playing” He put extra emphasis on the ‘fuck’ part which was a human word. He usually didn’t use it, he preferred to use cybertronian swears, especially when Sari was around, but it made sense to use it in this situation. He turned around so his back was now facing Blitzwing and he started sulking.

“Yeah turn your back to me and start mopping why don’t you. It’s the only thing you're good at anyway!” Bumblebee gave Blitzwing a glare over his shoulder.

“Why don’t you pull on your chains huh? Maybe if you do that you will be free sometime in the next twenty eons!”

“Yeah maybe I will do that! And when I get free I will tear apart your frame so your team will be able to carry you around in a bag!”

“Great! That would still be a better fate than being stuck here with you!”

“Fine, I’ll start then!”

“Sounds good to me!”

“Great”

“Fantastic!”

“Wonderful!”

“Can’t wait!”And with that Bumblebee turned his helm again so he was staring right into the wall. Behind him, he heard Blitzwing start to struggle with his chains again extra loudly to annoy Bumblebee.

Bumblebees recharging wasn't very deep. He kept walking on the line between being awake and being unconscious. He dreamed a lot, but they were all fuzzy and he didn’t remember them very well. 

He woke up again and he didn’t know why. He hadn’t been awoken by the room shaking so he guessed he was awake early. It was very cold in the cell and he was extremely tired and just wanted to fall back into recharge. He closed his optics again, but thats when he heard a whirl sound. The sudden noise made him jump. 

He was now clear awake and turned his helm towards the source of the noise and saw Blitzwing. He had expected him to be staring at him with his crimson optics but his surprise so did he notice that Blitzwing optics was closed and his helm was leaning against the wall behind him. _That can’t be good for the neck._

It took Bumblebee a moment to realise that Blitzwing wasn’t awake, he was still in recharge. Bumblebee just stared at him. It felt weird to see him like this, seeing him being so...calm? Non aggressive? Peaceful? Bumblebee studied his blue faceplate. Suddenly so did his faceplate spin and stoped on Hothead. Bumblebee tensed up and prepared for him to scream or yell at him like he usually did while on this faceplate. But nothing happened. Blitzwing just stayed in recharge.

He studied the red faceplate. It was slack and the usual scowl that accompanied it was nowhere to be found. His breathing was slow and with every inhale so was there a snore. 

Bumblebee knew he should just try to recharge again, but there was something weirdly intriguing to see Blitzwing like this. He was so defenceless and vulnerable, two words he had never used to describe Blitzwing before. He actually didn't look as scary when he was recharging as he did when he was awake. When he was awake so was his shoulders squared and he was constantly putting his hight and strong frame on full display and took every chance to loom over the smaller mini bot. He did pretty much everything he could to look as scary and threatening as possible. But right now so did he nothing of the sort. He was just recharging peacefully.

Bumblebee couldn't really explain it but seeing him like this made him seem, more cybertronina and less like a freaky killer machine with three alt modes. Blitzwing needed to recharge, just like Bumblebee. Blitzwings faceplate switched to Random.

Bumblebee looked at the faceplate and it's jagged grin and started thinking. He didn't know much about Blitzwing, no Autobot did. The whole "triple changer" thing was one of the Decepticons biggest and well kept secrets. How were they made? Why was Blitzwing the only one? Why him? How did the faceplate switching work? No one knew. 

Blitzwings faceplate switched again back to icy and that pulled Bumblebee out of his thoughts. Then Blitzwings faceplate switched again, and again, and again. Suddenly so was it just spinning round and round just stopping for barley a second before continuing again. 

Bumblebee just watched his faceplate spin around and around like a merry-go-round. The noise of the switching echoed inside the cell and out into the hallway. The noise was quite loud and really annoying. Bumblebee scowled slightly and tried to get in a comfortable poison to fall into recharge again. Whatever was going on with Blitzwing wasn’t his problem and he didn’t he want to get involved. 

About 5 minutes went by and the spinning didn’t stop. Bumblebee had put his servos over his audio receptors and tried to block out the noise but it was not enough. Finally so did Bumblebee decide that enough was enough and stood up with a low growl. There was no way Bumblebee was going back into recharge with that blasted noise never stooping.

“Hey Blitzbrain” He growled at him. Blitzwing didn’t react.”Hey Blitzbrain, can you stop making that noise?! It’s really fragging annoying!” He barked. Still no reaction.

Bumblebee didn’t know what made him do it. Maybe it was because he was too tried to be afraid or he was just fed up with that annoying whirl sound, but he stood up and walked right up to Blitzwing.Closer than he had ever dared before. He stood right before him with a scowl on his faceplate.

“Blitzwing! Wake up!” Blitzwings faceplate stopped for a second before it turned again. That was the final straw. “Blitzwing! Wake! Up!” And with that so did Bumblebee slap Blitzwing leg hard. 

What happened next happened so fast that Bumblebee didn’t have any time to react. As fast as Bumblebees open palm hit Blitzwing leg so did the spinning stop. Blitzwing faceplate stopped on Icy, his optics flew opened and Bumblebee saw an expression he had never seen that faceplate make before. He looked afraid, terrified in fact his optic were large and his breathing was rapid. But Bumblebee didn’t get any time to process what he saw before him because in a knee jerk reaction so did Blitzwing swing out his leg and caught Bumblebee right in the chest. 

Bumblebee flew backwards and slammed into the stone wall on the other side of the room. Bumblebee let out a yelp, more of surprise than pain. As fast he hit the wall so did he fall down onto the floor in a heap. He laid there for a moment and just processed what had happened.His audio receptors were ring and he rubbed the back of his helm and slowly so did he sit up and looked down at his chest. It had a big dent, but that was pretty much it. Nothing life threatening or something self repair couldn't fix. It hurt though. Both his chest, helm and back was sending out pulses of pain and he was pretty sure he going to be sore tomorrow.

“What in Primus name are you doing!?” Hotheads angry tone suddenly rang out. Bumblebee looked up and meet his gaze. Blitzwing didn't not look happy, that fear that had been on his face plate a second ago was now replaced with rage. 

“What in Primus name are _you_ doing?!”Bumblebee asked in return “You kicked me!” Bumblebee pointed at the dent on his chestplate. Blitzwing scowl deepened.

“You woke me up!” Blitzwing barked back.

“Well, it's not my fault” Bumblebee hissed. “I couldn’t recharge because your faceplate refused to stop spinning and making that blasted whirl noise!” 

“I can’t fragging control how my faceplates spin while I'm recharging” Blitzwing hissed right back. His faceplate switched again and landed on Icy. “Wake me again while I’m recharging and I’ll do much worse that dent your chest. Go it?” His words slipped between his gritted denta. His voice made it clear that his words were a promise and not a threat. Bumblebee was a bit tempted to ask what would happen if he woke him again, but decide it was not worth it. He was too tired to argue anyway,

“Whatever” Bumblebee responded instead and laid down on the floor on his side, with his arm under his helm and his back towards Blitzwing so he didn’t have to look at him. Despite that so did he feel Blitzwing optics burn into his back. But he ignored it and just closed his optics and tried to recharge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may think that someone who speaks both german and english should know how to write english with a german accent, but then you would be wrong!


	4. Chapter 4

Bumblebee kicked the leg out under the robot. The robot fell to the ground with a thud. Immediately so did bumblebee jump up on top the robots chest and kicked it right in its face. It dented inwards to the sound of bending metal and it completely shut down. 

Bumblebee took a moment just to breath. This whole fighting thing was really annoying and tiring. But he was determined to get through todays fight as well because today was the day. The day of his grand escape. 

He would finally get out, escape, say goodbye to this whole mess and go home. He was close to bursting with excitement just thinking about it. He would finally be able to see his team again, sleep in his berth again and be able to play video games again. He felt a ping of homesickness and a tinge of guilt. The rest of the team was probably worried about him and looking high and low for him. He shock the feeling off. It was fine! He was going home and everything was going to be okay. He would be rid of this place and finally get away from his “room mate”. 

At the thought of him so did Bumblebee lift his sight and scan the arena for him. He saw Blitzwing kick one of the bots into the bars of the arena with a loud bang before turning his attention to another robot that was approaching him with an axe held high.

Bumblebee frowned a little and his digits absentmindedly traced over the dent in his chest from last night. He was looking forward to leaving Blitzwing in the dust and not having to see his stupid faceplates every day. It would also be great when he and his team returned here and they would be able to arrest both Blitzwing and Master Disaster. That turned Bumblebees frown into a smug grin. 

Blitzwing was dealing with his last robot. He tore the axe from its hands and wedged it right into its head, turning it offline. He glanced up and saw that Bumblebee was watching him. His faceplate switched to Random he pulled his leg back and kicked the robot straight at him. The robot sore through the air and Bumblebee ran to the side and was able to avoid being hit. The robot crashed into the one Bumblebee had destroyed in a loud crash.

Bumblebees smirk disappeared again and he glared at Blitzwing.

“Stop throwing bots at me!” He screamed at him across the arena. Blitzwing squinted at him and then faked a look of suprise.

“Sorry! You are so tiny so I didn’t see you there!” He said and let out a cackle. Bumblebee grit his denta but then just sighed. It was fine. He won’t have to deal with him soon. 

Suddenly so did Master Disasters voice rang out.

“Great job you two” He said with a smirk and then turned his attention to Blitzwing.”So is it third time's the charm? Or are you still going to be stubborn?” 

Blitzwing faceplate switched to Icy and he crossed his arms over his chest and just glared at Master Disaster. Master Disasters smirk faltered for a moment but then just shrugged.

“I don’t know if you’re stubborn, or just plain stupid.” Blitzwings faceplate switched back to Random.

“I know you are, but what am I?” Master Disasters smirk disappeared and he frowned and without another word so did he just pull out the controller and forced Blitzwing back into the cell. 

Bumblebee quickly followed with a spring in his step. Maybe it looked a bit suspicious, but Bumblebee couldn’t help but to be excited for his escape attempt. 

When Bumblebee got in so did he go right up to the bars and looked down the hallway whilst he was slightly bouncing up and down. He saw from the corner of his optics that Blitzwing was watching him as Icy, neither of them addressed the other. 

Bumblebee waited for what felt like an eternity, but soon enough so did he see the feeder bot with a barrel of oil appear around a corner. His key to freedom. 

The robot came up to the bars.

“Step away from the bars” It said in its robotic voice. 

“Sure thing” Bumblebee said and stepped all the way to the back of the cell whilst trying to hide his smile.

The robot opened the door and leaned down to put the barrel on the floor. Bumblebee quickly transformed and put the pedal to the metal and drove straight forward driving both into the barrel that had been placed down by the entrance and the robot. The barrel went flying and oil spilled everywhere. It landed on the floor, walls and a bit landed on Bumblebee.

The robot slammed into the stone floor with a loud clang. The feeder bot got a big dent in it and Bumblebee could see wires and small sparks of electricity come out of it. He waited for a second to see if it would get up. But it didn't move a piston.

He transformed back to his bot mode, grabbed the feeder bot and started dragging it back into the cell. He was cringing because of the loud metal scraping against stone noise it was making. But nevertheless so did he continue.

_If I hide it in here so might I be able to gain some more time until they realise I’m gone._

Blitzwing had been very quiet so far, he hadn't even rattled his chains. He had just observed Bumblbees escape in silnce, But now for the first time since they returned from the arena so did he speak up.

“Is this your ‘grand plan’?” He sounded both unimpressed and skeptic.

“Ya.” Bumblebee answered and let go of the robot in the very back of the cell and clapped his servo together like he was dusting them off “What about it?”

“Have you thought this through at all?” He asked. His voice was a mix of genuine curiosity and snarkiness. “You’re out of the cell, great. What now? Do you know the layout of this place?" He asked.

"I know a bit" Bumblebee answered. Blitzwing didn't look very impressed.

"Do you know where you’re supposed to go?" He continued.

"No" Bumblebee admitted.

"Do you know what kind of security this place has?”

"No" He repeated a bit quieter.

"Do you know what you will do if you get out?"

"Find my team" Bumblebee answered. Blitzwing looked at him, his faceplate natural.

"Okay your HUD don't show maps at the moment. So if you get out and find our that we are in the middle of nowhere, where will you go? Will you just stumble around like a blind bot and hope that someone accidentally finds you?"

Blitzwing had a point. Bumblebee didn’t actually have any idea what to do past this point, or what he would do if he got out, He knew a little bit of the layout of this place form the first time he woke up and tried to make a break for it, but he didn’t know much more. After the point where he got caught last time so will he be fumbling around in the dark. Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge and gave him a snidey smile.

"Do you have any plan past this point?"

“I’ll improvise” Bumblebee snarled back, not wanting to give Blitzwing the satisfaction of telling him he had a good point and had hit the nail on the head. Blitzwings faceplate switched to Random.

“Great plan! I’m sure nothing will go wrong!” He said and let out a chuckle. Bumblebee shot him a glare before his mouth turned into a smirk.

“You’re just jealous that I’m going to escape while you have to stay here in this dark, dusty cell tied to the wall” Blitzwings faceplate switched to Hothead and gritted his denta. He yanked his chain extremely hard. They made a horrible noise when they scraped against his wrists and then Blitzwing made a quiet hiss in pain. Bumblebee ignored it and started jogging his way out of the cell. But before he made it out, so did he see Blitzwing swing out his leg towards him. Bumblebee divide forwards and was able to go under Blitzwings leg, roll and get out the door. He stood up, turned his helm and glared at Blitzwing.

“Nice try” He said with smirk and closed the cell door.The door closed and made a "click" sound when it locked again “See ya!” He said in a self satisfied tone and walked away from the cell. He could hear Blitzwing rattling his chains behind him.

He consider to transform and try to drive out of the base, but the sound of a car would probably be a lot more suspicious than the sound of footsteps. He knew the feeder bot walked through the hall so maybe if he just walked so would people assume he was just another mindless drone they heard. 

Bumblebee stuck close to the walls and tried to move as quietly as possible.

He came to the corner and peeked around it. The hallway was completely empty as far as he could see and there was no sign of either robots nor Master Disaster. _Perfect._

He shot a glance over his shoulder and saw the bars to the cell and a shape in the shade of the cell with two glowing red dots that looked right at him, then he took his first right and the cell disappeared from his sight. He almost felt bad that he was leaving Blitzwing behind, but that feeling of pity quickly passed. _I'll come back with my team and get him later._

The hallway looked exactly like he remembered it when he first got here. It was long a bland. 

He moved forwards. Even though he was moving as quietly as he could so did his steps still echo throughout the hall. He was moving at a snail's pace but he didn’t dare to move faster, he needed to be stealthy. Well as stealthy a brightly coloured yellow cybertronina could be. 

He moved forward without any problems. He could feel his spark pulsing in his chest and any sort of noise made him jump. He soon saw a familiar sight. The fork in the road. One path that went to the right were he had run into Master Disaster and one that went forward. 

Bumblebee decided to continued forward and soon meet another fork in the road. Here one way went right and the other went left. He looked down both hallways and frowned. _The hallways looks exactly the same! Who designed this place?! How does anybody know where they are going!?_

He turned left and walked down the path, it turned left again and after the turn so was Bumblebee faced with three doors. One was on the left side of the wall one on the right and one straight ahead. The one on the straight ahead was pretty big. It was big enough so if Optimus had been here so would he have been able to walk through it with no problem. 

He pressed his side of his helm against each of the doors and tried to listen for any sounds. But he hard nothing but silence behind all three doors.

Bumblebee took the handle of the door that was straight ahead and pulled on it. Locked. He let go if it and turned to the door to his left and tried his luck again. It was also locked. Bumblebee sighed. He really didn’t want to have to kick a door down. It would make a lot of noise and take a lot of effort, and he didn't even know if it would be worth it. It was like a mystery box. Bumblebee turned his sight to the door to the right and crossed his digits.

 _Third time's the charm._ He took a hold of the handle and pushed it down, and the door opened with no resistance. 

He stood completely still for a moment and just listened. He heard no sound from the inside and after a moment so did he open the door a little bit, just enough so he could peek inside. It looked like a kitchen weirdly enough. There was a stove a refrigerator, one chair and a table. But other then the furniture so was the room empty, there was no sign of life.

Bumblebee opened the door completely, walked in and looked around.

There was nothing special about it. Just a normal kitchen. He scanned the walls and noticed that there was no windows. Now that he thought about it so had he seen no windows anywhere in this base. Just solid walls. Weird, but he shook it off quickly.

Bumblebee started to open cupboards, he didn’t know what he was looking for but he guessed he would know it when he saw it.

The cupboards were mostly empty it looked like everything was suited for just one person. One spoon, one fork, one knife etc. _That probably means that Master Disaster is the only human that hangs around here._

He closed the last cupboard with a huff. There was nothing of use. He should probably just continue moving, he was waisting time and who know how much time he had left until someone noticed his absent. He was on his way out of the kitchen when he saw something on the wall on his left. He stopped dead in his tracks and just stared at it with big optics. He had to blink a few times and rub his optics just to make sure that he wasn’t imagining it. Right there on the wall was a map. 

Bumblebee had to put a servo over his mouth to stop himself from making an excited outburst but he made a fist pump in the air with his other servo. _Finally, some good luck!_

He quickly made his way over to the map and started to scan it and trace his digit over it trying to find out where he was. None of the locations were named except one door that had an arrow pointing outwards that said “exit”. He didn't know where he was at the moment but he just needed to apply some detective skills and he soon found out where he was.

There was a big room on the map and he guessed that was the arena, that or there was a second gigantic room somewhere, which he doubted. The arena, he knew had three doors, his and Blitzwings cell door, the door the robots came out from and the door Master Disaster came in though that was on top of the balcony.

He placed his digits in the square that he guessed was the cell, followed down the hallways and traced his digit all the way to where he guessed he was. He then traced his digit then from the kitchen square to where it said “exit” and tried to remember the rout. 

He was not that far away, and he pretty much just had to walk in a straight line. Bumblebee went through the map several times just trying to punch the information into his processor. Suddenly as he scanned the map for the eleventh time so did he noticed something move at the edge of his vision. 

He felt his spark skipped a beat and he snapped his helm to the right and saw that just beyond the door frame so stood a robot. Bumblebee cursed himself, he had forgotten to close the door to the kitchen. _I’m a fraging idiot!_

He looked at the robot and noticed it was different from all the other he had seen. This one was much more armoured and had only one arm with fingers, the other arms resembled a pipe of metal. Bumblebee lifted an optic ridge. 

“Return to your cell” It said with its monotone robotic voice. Bumblebee smirked and took a fighting position.

“Yeah? Or else what, tin can?” He had been fighting Master Disaster robots three days straight already, this was just one robot against him, this was going to be a piece of cake.

The first thing that happened was that the robot made a “beep” sound and then a deafening alarm went off throughout the whole base. Bumblebee was nearly forced to cover his audio receptors.

The second thing that happened was that the robot lifted the pipe arm and pointed it right to Bumblebee and it started to make a weird noise. Bumblebee just stared at it for a moment a bit confused. Suddenly so did the pipe light up and Bumblebee with horror realised what was going on. It was not a pipe arm, it was barrel of a gun like thing.

He jumped to side just as a bullet about the size of a cannon ball blasted out of the barrel and smashed into the wall at a terrifying speed. The room shook from the impact and Bumblebee felt his whole frame go cold as he looked at the wall it had hit. It had wedge itself stuck in the wall. It had burrowed a good bit into the wall, if it had hit him so would it have done a lot of damage to his inner workings, it it hadn't straight out offlined him. The stone wall had cracked around the bullet, making a spider like pattern and several pebbles and pieces of rocks fell down onto the ground with quiet thuds.

That was when Bumblebee knew that this robot was truly different from the others he had fought. The one in the arena was for close combat, that made it easier for Blitzwing and himself to fight them when they themselves had no long range weapons. The robots in the arena were easy to destroy and didn’t do much damages. Those robots had been easy with a reason, they were made to entertain, this one was made to offline. _If it can do ‘that’ to a wall, guess what it will do to my frame._ Bumblebee swallowed, he really wished that he had his stingers right now.

“Return to your cell” The robot repeated. 

Bumblebees mind started racing. He consider for a moment to give up and return to his cell but he shot down the idea. He was so close to be free. _Go big or go home._ Or go small or go home he guessed was a better analogy considering that going home was what he wanted.

That left him with one choice, he had to run. He was already found so there was no reason to not make noise anymore.

Bumblebee grabbed the only kitchen chair and threw it with all his might towards the robot. The wood broke and splintered and the robot stumbled a few steps back from the impact. Bumblebee moved and shoved his shoulder into the robot making it fall down before he transformed and floored it. 

He drove straight forward whilst he tried to keep as clear of a memory of the map as he could. He took a the first turn to the left and then just drove forward. He knew that it was pretty much a straight line from now on to the exit. 

One thing he noticed was that the floor was slowly turning into an upwards slope. Bumblebee didn’t think about it a lot and just kept driving forward. The sound of the alarm pounded into his helm, it was like someone was banging on helm with a sledge hammer. But he continued forward without slowing down. 

Suddenly so felt he a cold breeze go through the hallway, carrying a fresh smell of resin, conifer and moss with it. It was so different from the new paint smell that was inside the base so Bumblebee picked up the smell immediately. 

It made him think of Prowl and that time they with Sari had gone on that camping trip. It filled Bumblebee with even more determination. _I’m getting out of here! I’m finally going home!_

And soon the finish line came into his field of vision. He saw right in front of him the exit. It was maybe 500 meter away, but he saw it. What he also saw was that a thick metal slab was slowly lowering down blocking off his only way to the outside. He pressed his gaspedal all the way down, now racing against the time it would take for the slab to reach the floor and block out the outside world. 

He got closer and closer. On the way so did he drive past one of two hallways that was to the side, he didn’t pay them much mind because he was completely focused on the excit. He could see the outside.

It looked like a gravel road that was surrounded by a forest with varying colours of green, the sun was shining down on the spruce trees and dark moss. Another cold breeze slipped into the hallway and brushed against Bumblebees altmode and he caught yet again the smell of the forest.

Bumblebee passed the second hallway without giving it so much of a glance. He was going to make it. The slab was going steadily down but he believed he had enough time and momentum. He was going to make it! He was going home!

And that was when his brake pedal was completely pressed down and he stopped dead in his tracks. He let out a yelp of confusion and surprise. _What happened? What’s going on!?_ He tried to push down the gas pedal again and speed up, but he noticed he couldn’t move his frame at all and a feeling of dread and panic filled him.

He saw how the metal slab continued to slide down before his very optics. He tried to move and break his paralysis but he was unsuccessful. 

_No...No!No!NO! This can’t be happening! I was going home! I was so close!_ He saw the last bit of forest disappear beyond the thick metal and he stopped trying to move and he just looked at it. His mind was blank and he felt a overpowering feeling of despair. His hope had smashed into thousand of tiny pieces, like a glass bowl hitting the floor.

He had been so close and he had tripped on the finish line. His victory had been ripped out of his servos just as he was about to grab it. 

He saw something move and from the hallway he had just passed and he saw Master Disaster walk out with controller pointed at him. He had an expression that was a mix of anger and satisfaction.

“I must say. I’m a bit impressed” He said with a wry smile. “You nearly made it, I must upgrade the security around here” He turned a knob on the controller and Bumblebee turned back to his bot mode. He was glaring daggers at Master Disaster and his denta was clenched so hard it felt like he might break them.

Master Disasters smile dropped and he got a serious expression on his face. He said nothing more, he just made Bumblebee turn around and they started to make their way back the way Bumblebee had come. Bumblebee was filled with more anger and dread when he realised that Blitzwing was still in the cell, waiting for him.

They soon made it back to the hallway to the cell. The oil stains that had been there when Bumblebee left the cell was gone. 

Bumblebee walked inside the cell and stumbled over his own peds and fell to the ground. He felt the effect of the controller let go of him and he could move around freely again.

“You waisted the oil you would have gotten today, and I won’t replace it” Master Disaster started. “And I won’t give you any tomorrow either. That is your punishment for trying to escape.”He was quiet for a moment. "If you try a stunt like this again so will I be very angry and the punishment will be sever. So don't do it again" The last sentence was said with a dark growl. Then Master Disaster turned his back to cell and walked away. 

Bumblebee put his servos on the cold stone ground and pushed himself up so he was sitting on his knees. He just sat there and stared at the stone floor for a moment and just felt miserable. 

He had been so close. So close to getting back home and see his team again. It felt like someone had taken a knife and had stabbed him right in the spark. He could see before him how the rest of the team was running around looking for him, asking the police if they had found or heard anything and browsing the internet looking for any sort of clue, just to end up empty handed. Or worse, they were watching the show and had to watch with horro whilst he though and all they could do was to hope he was going to make it and bee okay. And all their suffering was all his fault.

His servos tuned into tight fists.

If he had listened too Optimus so wouldn’t he be in this mess right now and his team wouldn't have to worry.

His brooding was interrupted when he heard Randoms voice rung out.

“That was quick! And you kept your promise to return and rescue me! Or did the thought of leaving me behind while you escaped hurt too much?” He said and let out a loud laugh. 

Bumblebees started scowling and but kept his optics on the ground.

“Shut up” He mumbled. He really didn’t want to deal with Blitzwing right now, he neither had the energy or was in the mood for it. He just wanted to be left alone, but that was literally impossible. He couldn’t leave this room. He was jet again stuck with Blitzwing.

“What was that?” Blitzwing asked teasingly. Bumblebee flew up onto his peds and snapped his helm towards him. His optics were burning with rage and he bared his denta.

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut! Up! Just shut up! You never have anything good to say anyway so you can just shut your fraging mouth!” He screamed at him. There was an unusual sharpness to his voice that said that he was both enraged and that he was fed up with Blitzwing and didn't want to deal with him anymore today.

Blitzwing looked a bit taken aback, it seemed like he hadn’t expected Bumblebees wrath induced outburst. But he quickly got back his composure and his faceplate switched to Hothead.

“Are you giving me orders bug?! I can crush you with one servo!” Bumblebee started shaking with rage.

“I have a name! And it’s Bumblebee! It’s not ‘bug’ or ‘Autobot’! It’s Bumblebee! Get that through that thick helm of yours!” He shouted. ”Just frag off and leave me alone!” Blitzwings faceplate switched back to Random.

“I can’t exactly go anywhere” He said and rattled his chains slightly whilst he grinned that stupid jagged grin.

“Then just leave me alone!”

Bumblebee then walked over to his side of the cell and laid down on his side so his back was turned towards Blitzwing and put one of his arm under his helm like a pillow. He couldn’t leave and be alone so he had to settle with the second best which was to not looking at him and instead stared dagger into the wall.

It was completely silent in the cell, all that could be heard was their breaths. Neither Bumblebee nor Blitzwing made any sound other than that for a long while. It passed at least 15 minutes before Blitzwing started to rattle his chains again.


	5. Chapter 5

Bumblebee moved and was barely able to avoid the sword the robot had swung towards him. 

He was exhausted and his tank was in agony. 

He hadn’t refueled for a full day and his HUD had started to hassle him with messages urging him to get fuel. He deleted the messages with a scowl. He knew he needed to refuel, but he also knew that it was not going to happen today. Master Disaster had said so himself. 

Bumblebee was forced to jump to the side as the sword swung down once more. Bumblebee grabbed the robots' hand and was able to make it release its grip on the sword, so that it fell onto the sandy floor with a muffled thud. 

Bumblebee then punched the robot in what would be considered it stomach before punching it again in its “face”. The robot was momentarily stunned and Bumblebee was able to put some distance between himself and the robot. He transformed, drove forward and crashed right into the robot. Its entire body dented inwards and several pieces of its metal body broke off. It slammed into the ground and didn’t get up.

Bumblebee transformed back and put a servo over his tank. It was rumbling and another HUD message popped up urging him to refuel.

“I know I should, but I can’t" He hissed under his breath, and deleted the message. 

Master Disasters' voice rang out.

“That was all for today. So, what’s it gonna be, tough guy?” He asked with a taunting voice. Bumblebee glanced over towards Blitzwing who was standing on the opposite side of the arena. Blitzwing glared at Master Disaster, disdain clear in his optics.

“You can ask me a thousand times and my answer won’t change.” Blitzwing said with a chilling and determined tone of voice.

“Whatever you say” He said with a smirk and took out the controller and forced Blitzwing back into the cell like usual, and then turned his attention to Bumblebee. But Bumblebee didn’t move any closer to the cell; he just crossed his arms over his chest and stood there.

“Why aren’t you moving?” Master Disaster asked.

“Why should I? I won’t get any oil no matter if I walk into the cell or not. So what’s the point?” Master Disaster frowned and rubbed his temples.

“Do it, or you won’t get any oil tomorrow either” Bumblebee sighed.

“Fine” He hissed in annoyance and made his way to the cell.

When he got inside the wall slid shut behind him.

Bumblebee immediately noticed something new. The cell bars were different. At the far left side of the bars, on the part of the cell that Bumblebee had claimed as his, at ground level, was a rectangular piece of metal. Bumblebee looked at it confusedly and walked closer to observe it. 

The metal was about 0.50 x 0.50 meters, maybe a bit larger, It had a metal frame with hinges that screwed onto it so that it looked like it could be opened. Bumblebee pushed at it, but it didn’t move.

He moved a bit and tried to get a better look at it from the other side of the bars. He saw that the metal was pretty thick and that it was locked with a big padlock on the other side. Making it impossible for him to open it. 

Bumblebee stretched his arm between the bars and yanked at the lock a few times before he sighed and gave up. He looked at the hinges to see if he could somehow unscrew the screws. But he noticed quickly that there was some kind of metal cap welded over them, making it impossible for the screws to come loose.

He then stared at it for a few minutes trying to figure out what the point of it was.He thought for a moment; before he realised what it was. It was a food hatch. Like the ones they had in prison movies to pass food through.

He was a momentarily confused about why they would have installed one before it hit him and he groaned. 

It had been installed there so Bumblebee wouldn’t get the chance to try his escape trick again. The hatch was big enough to pass barrels of oil through, but not big enough for him to drive through in his car altmode. 

He kicked the hatch a bit, to see if it would dent or bend. It didn't. It felt like he was kicking a stone wall. 

He gave up and just sat down in his corner and put a servo over his stomach. His tank was turning and sending out hunger pains, but Bumblebee tried his best to ignore it. 

He had been hungry before sure, but he had never gone so long without any fuel. It had always been close at hand, so if he had been hungry he could just go and grab a barrel. He'd never felt true hunger like this before. 

He tried to not pay much attention to the pain, but that was hard when there wasn't anything to do. The battle in the arena had been able to distract him quite a bit, but now he was just sitting down. He thought about trying to recharge it off, just go into recharge and wake up the next day. That would at least shorten the time he had to feel hungry. The problem was that he didn't feel tired. Even if he was so terribly hungry so was he not the least bit tired. So he had to come up with something else.

He tried to come up with things to do. He glanced over at the drawings he had done on the stone wall. Some had started to fade but a lot of them were still pretty clear. He looked around to see if he could find the piece of metal he had used to carve into the walls. But found it was missing.

He thought a bit longer before a new idea it hit him. He stood up and stretched.

* * *

Blitzwing pulled at his chains. ' _Primus they made these sturdy!'_

He yanked extra hard at the next pull. A sharp sting of pain was sent throughout his frame and he had to immediately stop.

His shackles were tight enough so he couldn’t just slip out of them, but they were so loose they slid up and down his wrists. They were not designed for any sort of comfort which was evident by the sharp edges that scratched and dug into his wrists. It had started as scratches but his relentless struggle with them had made them dig so far into his plating that it had started to hurt.

His wrist weren't the only things in pain. His tank also caused him unrelenting agony. He hadn’t refuelled for a long time and that was becoming more and more of a problem. His HUD hassled him with low fuel warnings at least once an hour and every now and then, the pain in his tank would skyrocket and it would feel like someone had taken a knife and stabbed him, and was then turning the blade, digging it deeper and deeper into his stomach area.

He had been low on fuel before. During the war there had sometimes been droughts where supplies were low, and they had been forced to ration what little they had. But even then Blitzwing hadn’t ever gone so long without anything. Often he'd keep at least something for emergencies like energion sticks, but right now he was completely out of resources and he was starving.

It was painful and annoying. He knew that the only way to get fuel was to comply and go into the cell of his own free will, but that was not going to happen. He was not about to admit defeat. So despite his tank begging him to refuel, so was his mind still dead set on continuing to defy the orders of that human.

Everyday he was feeling less and less energized. It was like having a leech on him, sucking the energy right out of him. It also hurt to move. It felt like his own frame was punishing him for not being still and trying to conserve energy. 

He knew he shouldn't struggle quite so much with his restraints and should probably try to take it easier in the arena, he knew that was what he should do, but he just couldn't do it.

He wanted out of these Primus damned chains and out of this cramped cell. He hated the feeling of being trapped and unable to move freely. He hated it so much that the pain he felt while trying to escape seemed worth it and it was that hatred that kept him going and kept providing him with the determination to fight this prison despite the pain it inflicted on him.

He yanked a bit on his chains again and the pain in his wrists flared up in hot agony. It hurt less than his tank did, but it was still painful. But struggling with his cuffs gave him something to do and took his mind off focusing on the pain in his tank.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he saw movement from the other side of the cell. 

His optics focused on the minibot he was sharing the cell with. He was standing on his peds and had put his servos on the ground, kind of like in an upside down V formation and he was trying to kick up his peds towards the ceiling. 

Blitzwing just watched him trying to kick his legs upwards with confusion. Bumblebee tried to kick his peds up just to make them fall back down and land on the floor again and again; He seemed to be getting frustrated. 

_'What is he doing?'_ Blitzwing had no idea what the yellow Autobot was trying to accomplish. But he was a bit tempted to ask but shot the idea down. 

_'It's probably something stupid and irritating.' 'He’s probably just trying to bother me, just ignore it.'_ That was what he told himself, but he couldn’t help but continue to observe him. Whatever the minibot tried to accomplish so didn't it look like he was getting anywhere. After 10 minutes Blitzwing couldn’t stop himself anymore, he was too curious. He knew that the explanation would probably be stupid, but that was kind of intriguing in and of itself.

“What are you doing?” He asked in a cold and confused tone. Bumblebee stopped trying to kick up his legs but didn’t stand up from his upside down V formation. He turned his helm towards Blitzwing, it looked like he hadn’t noticed that he'd been watching him.

“I’m trying to stand on my servos” Bumblebee explained like it was obvious. That did answer the question of what he was doing, but also created a lot more. Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge.

“Why?” 

“I don’t exactly have anything better to do. So why not learn to stand on my servos?” Blitzwing had to agree that Bumblebee had a point. The boredom was tedious and watching Bumblebee try to stand on his servos was at least less boring and hurt much less than Blittzwings own struggles with his cuffs. 

But Blitzwing couldn’t help but to feel a bit nauseated by watching Bumblebee waste so much energy on trying to accomplish such a meaningless task. His tank gave another ravenous cramp and the pain that shot through his frame had him biting his glossa to stay silent.

He deeply envied Bumblebees free range of movement. 

Bumblebee went back to try to stand on his servos and Blitzwing was quite satisfied with Bumblebees' answer. He stayed quiet and continued to watch him fail. Bumblebee was really struggling, but it looked like he was dead set on continuing even if it looked like he was not getting anywhere. Blitzwings optics ridges furrowed a little as he realised something. 

Bumblebee didn’t keep his arms straight, and that was one of the biggest things that made him unable to stand on his servos. It was fairly obvious that it was the main problem, however it didn't look like Bumblebee had noticed it himself. Blitzwing opened his mouth and was about to mention it but quickly closed it again and argued with himself.

He could tell Bumblebee, but he could also just shut his mouth and watch Bumblebee continue to fail over and over again. Both were a tempting courses of action.

He and Bumblebee weren’t friends, they weren't allies, they didn't even like each other. They were enemies. He knew that if they were outside of this place they would be fighting. Blitzwing would try to offline him and Bumblebee would try to defeat him and take him prisoner. That thought enraged him. The thought of being locked up and possibly being turned into a lab experiment was one of the worst fates he could imagine. Many bots considered him crazy already, but if that happened to him so was he pretty sure he would truly go off the deep end.

Being trapped in a room, unable to transform, unable to leave or move whilst bots probed and experimented on his frame in a lab. A shiver went through his backstrut. He didn't even want to imagine it.

But the thought of talking to the minibot was a bit tempting. It would give his processor something to think about other than the pain in his wrist and tank at least. He was about to give up on the idea, but his tank gave another wave of agony and he changed his mind. _Why the pit not._

“You’re doing it wrong.” He said, a bit out of the blue. Bumblebee turned his helm towards him.

“What?” Blitzwing rolled his optics.

“You’re doing it wrong, You’re bending your arms, you’re focusing too much on your legs. And you’re making it unnecessarily difficult for yourself” Bumblebee finally stood upright.

“It’s not rocket science!" He shouted, "It can’t possibly be that difficult!” Blitzwing rolled his optics.

“Fine then” The room went silent again and Blitzwing started to regret that he had said anything at all. It took a moment, but suddenly Bumblebee spoke up.

“Okay, just because I’m curious, not because I actually need your input, what would you suggest I could do to make it easier?” He asked. Blitzwing rolled his optics again.

“Stand against a wall, put your servos at the base and stand like you are doing right now, then kick up your legs so you are upside down and your legs are leaning on the wall. That way you can train the strength in your arms and get support from the wall”

“Oh...okay, I’ll try that” He said, and walked over to the closest wall and returned to his upside down V stance. 

He tried to get up a few times, and was unsuccessful; He then stood still for a long moment before kicking his peds off the ground. He got up and his legs hit the wall. It looked like it was going well but the attempt was quickly ruined when Bumblebees arms buckled. His helm hit the floor and his legs tipped off the wall, and it ended with Bumblebee laying on his stomach and holding his helm. Blitzwings' faceplate spun to Random and he snickered.

Bumblebee sat up and rubbed his helm a bit and glared at the wall like it was its fault he had fallen down. New determination lit up in Bumblebees optics and he stood back against the wall in the upside down V formation and prepared. 

Blitzwing could see how this time he flexed his arms before even trying to kick his legs up. Bumblebee was still for a moment before kicking his legs up, and was able to get them to precariously lean on the wall. 

His arms nearly buckled again, but he caught himself. It seemed like he was having a bit of a hard time keeping them straight but for the moment he was able to hold himself upside down with help from the wall. Bumblebee got a huge smile on his faceplate. His optics turned to Blitzwing, they were glimmering.

“I did it!” He was quiet for a moment, “What do I do now?” Blitzwings' faceplate switched back to Icy and he rolled his optics.

“What do you think?" He said in perfect monotone. "You try to remove your legs from the wall, and stand like that without its help” 

“Okay.” He said, and looked like he was trying to focus. He lightly kicked his legs off the wall, but put a little too much oomph behind it and his peds traveled all the way down so that they hit the floor. Bumblebee was back in the V formation, but at least this time he hadn’t fallen flat on his faceplate, either way he decided to sit down.

He started shaking his arms a bit, they were probably tired after he had kept them straight for so long, forcing them to hold up his entire weight. Bumblebee just sat there a moment and waited for his strength to return.

Blitzwing soon got bored of watching him and looked up at his cuffs, considering if trying to break them again was worth it. But just as he was about to try, Bumblebee spoke up.

“Can you stand on your servos?” Blitzwings' attention turned from the cuffs back to Bumblebee and met his optics. It was a weird question. It was not in the sense it was a weird question considering what was going on, but it was weird that Bumblebee had asked him at all. 

It wouldn’t change his own situation or provide him with any sort of help in accomplishing his task. The questions' only purpose was conversation. Blitzwing wasn’t sure why the minibot wanted to engage him in small talk as Blitzwing knew he was not pleasant to speak with or be around so he didn’t know why this Autobot wanted to converse with him. Maybe he was just as bored as he was; no matter the reason, the yellow buffoon chose to speak with him so Blitzwing decided to engage with the conversation. It would at least be a distraction from the pain.

Blitzwing was quiet for a moment before answering.

“I could do it when I was a sparkling; Not sure if I can do it now” 

That was not a complete lie, but it wasn't the entire truth either. A more truthful answer was that his old frame could stand on its servos, but he was unsure if his now triple changer frame could. But he wasn’t about to tell an Autobot that though, the last thing he wanted was to have a discussion about triple changers.

He hated talking about that subject, and he actively tried to avoid it as much as possible; because the topic itself had some bad memories attached to it.

Blitzwings' faceplate switched to Random and he picked up where his conversation with Bumblebee had left off.

“So that means that this is so easy that a sparkling could do it, but you can’t!” He said and let out a cackle. Bumblebee pouted.

“I started training today. What do you want from me?” He said and stood back on his peds and servos and kicked himself off the ground so he was upside down again and tried to stand straight without the help of the wall. He was quiet for a moment and it looked like he was contemplating something. "Thanks. " Was all he said, and went silent. 

“Thanks for what?” Blitzwing asked, a bit confused. Bumblebee rolled his optics.

“For giving me the wall advice. Thanks” Blitzwing let out a quiet huff in response.

Blitzwing just stared at him. ‘ _How can such a small bot be so full of energy?’_ Blitzwing found the little minibot in front of him confusing and even if Blitzwing didn’t like it so did he find the minbot a bit intriguing. 

He was very different from what he was used to.

Bumblebee didn’t seem to be scared of him. Blitzwing wasn’t so blind that he hadn't noticed that the minibot didn’t like his presence and actively tried to keep a distance from him, but it seemed like he was more wary than truly afraid of him. He was not afraid to bite back when Blitzwing yelled or threatened him. 

He had actually screamed at him yesterday, a thing that even Decepticons in his own weight class didn’t dare. But this little mini Autobot that was almost three times smaller than himself had yelled at him, and not only that, had told him to shut up. Though Blitzwing had chalked it up to him taking advantage of his own imprisonment and Bumblebee being frustrated over his failed attempted escape.

Bumblebee was on the edge of letting his peds stop touching the wall. Blitzwings grin widened and he lifted one of his peds just enough so he could axe kick the floor. The whole ground shook and Bumblebee lost his balance and fell down flat on the ground. Bumblebee shot him a glare.

“You know what? I take back my ‘thanks’, you’re an aft” 

“No take backsies!” Blitzwing responded and let out a cackling laugh whilst Bumblebee sat back up, and shook out his arms.

That was another thing Blitzwing had noticed. It didn't look like Bumblebee hated him, dislike, sure, but not hate. 

He knew how people looked when they saw something they hated. Their demeanour was different, rage burned in their optics. He had seen it before when Autobots saw him and other Decepticons, it was common. But Bumblebee didn’t have that. He looked more annoyed than anything. 

Blitzwing got bored watching Bumblebee rest and his focus swiftly returned to his cuffs. 

He yanked at them a little and felt the pain in his wrists flare up again. His faceplate switched to Hothead and he started trying to break them with all his might. The cuffs slid up and down his wrist, scraping against his plating and giving him sharp pulses of pain. But he didn’t stop. He just continued to fight. He tried leaning forward and putting all his weight behind it but the shackles refused to break. 

He soon got tired and had to take a moment to rest. He could no longer struggle for long periods of time. Every time he used a burst of energy to struggle, the time he could go on fighting was shortened. He just didn’t have the stamina for it anymore.

The ache in his fuel tank punished him for wasting so much precious energy, and he had to bite his glossa again to not let out a grunt of pain.

The area around his wrist burned and this time it didn’t go away.

“Hey.” Blitzwing snapped his helm towards the sound and saw that Bumblebee was watching him. Blitzwing bared his denta. He hated that. He hated being watched while he fought his chains. It made him look weak, pathetic and desperate.

“What?” He said in a low growl.

“What have you done to your wrists?” Bumblebee said, pointing towards one of Blitzwings wrists. “Is that energion?” 

Blitzwing optics turned to his wrist and widened in shock. A trail of pink liquid was going down his wrist and down to his elbow. There it started to drip down onto the floor, slowly making a puddle. He just looked at it as it slowly dawned on him what had happened. The manacles had dug so far into his plating so they had cut straight through to his protoform. 

Blitzwing honestly hadn't realised that his struggle had made such a deep wound in his wrist. He turned his helm and saw a similar sight on his other wrist; energion continuing to leak steadily down his arm.

“Did you...Did you really fight your chains to the point that you hurt yourself?" Bumblebee asked, a bit in disbelief. "Wouldn’t you realise that you were creating a wound?” Blitzwing snapped his helm towards Bumblebee and growled.

“Mind your own business Autobot!” His voice was sharp and threatening again, The small amount of warmth that it'd had a second ago was gone. 

Bumblebee noticed the switch. His demeanour immediately changed to accommodate the new tone their conversation had taken. He started to look annoyed, and crossed his arms over his chest.

“It’s Bumblebee, is it really that hard to call me by my name?" He asked in an irritated tone of voice, "I get that you don’t like me and stuff, but you don’t see me running around calling you Decepticon all the time” Blitzwing scoffed.

“You mistake me for someone who cares, to me you're just another Autobot among thousands, a faceplate that will soon be forgotten and I’ll never think of you again.” Bumblebee rolled his optics.

“That’s a pretty roundabout way to say that you don’t have the processor capacity to remember my name” Blitzwing scowled and lurched forward and a shock of new pain from his open wounds went through his frame

“Come closer and say that again! I dare you!” Bumblebee didn’t move an inch.

“Why don’t you try to escape your chains and come over here instead? Just continue to hurt your wrists with those shackles, soon they will completely cut through your servos and you’ll be free!” 

They just glared at each other for a while without saying anything; before both of them turned their faceplates away from each other. Bumblebee let out a deep sigh of annoyance and walked over to the cell bars and stared down the hallway. Blitzwing let out a huff and started fighting his cuffs once more, deciding to face the pain head on.

* * *

Bumblebee awoke with a pang of discomfort in his tank. Quickly a HUD message popped up reminding him to refuel. Bumblebees' expression turned to a scowl. ' _Oh really? I need to refuel? I didn’t know!'_ He deleted the message and sat up.

He rubbed the sleep from his optics and looked around. The room wasn’t shaking, that meant he was awake early.

He started to shiver and he hugged his arms close to his frame. It was freezing. His frame felt ice cold and he was shivering terribly. He started to rub his servos up and down his frame, trying to get some heat off the friction, but it wasn't much and he didn’t feel much warmer. 

He then heard that familiar whirl from the other side of the room. He looked up and saw Blitzwing still recharging. 

He observed him for a while. _He_ didn’t look cold. Maybe it was because he was recharging, or maybe his thick tank plating kept the cold out, or maybe his frame was just unnaturally good at producing heat.

No matter the reason was so did Bumblebee envy it.

Bumblebee stood up and started to pace about the room, trying to get warm from the action, but that didn’t help a lot either. He thought for a moment about running from one side of the cell to the other, kind of like a beep test. But he quickly shot down that idea. 

If he made too much movement so would he probably wake up Blitzwing, and the last thing he wanted was to deal with a grumpy, sleep deprived, triple changer.

Bumblebee looked over at him again. He could see the dried trail of energion that had gone down his arm. He couldn’t see the wounds well from this far away. He could see that he had them, but not how deep they were or how bad they looked.

_'Why is he so determined to fight his shackles? Sure I wouldn’t want to be tied to a wall either, but I wouldn't go so far that I hurt myself, and I definitely wouldn’t continue to fight my chains after I had created a wound.'_

Bumblebee sighed and just summed it up to insanity. ' _Who knows what's going on inside his processor.'_

Bumblebee watched as suddenly Blitzwings faceplates started to spin faster and faster until they were just a blur of colour. Bumblebee had to look away because staring at it was starting to make him feel nauseous. 

The sound echoed in the cell and out into the hallway. It was just as irritating as the last time it had happened. 

Bumblebee considered for a moment just walking over and waking him up again, but ultimately decided not to. Sure, the noise was annoying but it was still better than being kicked. 

Bumblebee thought back to last time, he remembered the expression Blitzwing had made when Bumblebee had woken him up. That expression of terror on the normally calm, stoic faceplate appeared clearly in his mind. 

_'Why did he look so terrified? What could possibly scare a mech like Blitzwing?'_

Bumblebee glanced up at his spinning faceplates again.

He was a bit tempted to ask Blitzwing about it later, about his scared expression and the switching. But he was pretty sure he would just get yelled at, so he left that idea in the trash.

He laid back down on the ground. It was cold, hard, and provided no sense of comfort. It made Bumblebee miss his base. He missed his berth, his room, his video games, feeling warm at night, sunlight, going outside, but most of all he missed his team. 

Sari, Bulkhead, Optimus, Prowl, even Ratchet. He missed them all. He wanted to see them, talk to them, hang out with them, just be around them again. He didn’t even care anymore that Optimus would probably give him a lecture when they met again. He would gladly accept a lecture if it meant he would be allowed to go back home. 

He just wanted to go home so badly, he wanted this mess to be over. He felt his optics fill with tears but he was able to push them back.

Bumblebee turned so he was laying on his side and closed his optics tight as he tried to pretend he was back home, back in his room, laying on his berth, and at any moment Optimus would knock on his door and tell him to get up and start the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank friendoffungi for beta reading this chapter!  
> Check her out on https://friendoffungi.tumblr.com/


	6. Chapter 6

Bumblebee was at the moment, fighting robots. He had been able to rip one of the swords out of a robots' hand and for the moment was swinging it around fighting off other robots that were coming after him. He was not experienced at all with handling a sword. But seriously, what was so hard to understand about swish, swish, stab?

He was physically fighting but mentally he was preoccupied, the biggest topic being, Blitzwings' injuries. He didn’t want to admit it but he was a little worried. 

Blitzwing knew that his wrists were wounded, and he knew it was because of the cuffs he struggled with, but it looked like he didn’t care. He had just continued to fight with his shackles yesterday. If he continued like that his wounds would never get any time to heal, and it was that part Bumblebee was worried about.

If Blitzwing had an open wound, and kept it open, and did nothing to protect it, it might get infected. Bumblebee didn’t know a lot about earth bacteria or similar things, so their effect on cybertoninan life was outside his range of knowledge. He was i no way a doctor, but he was pretty sure that keeping a wound constantly open was not a great idea nor was it good for their health. Even if his wrists didn’t get infected, Blitzwing might accidentally cut a main energion line, or damage his servos so they no longer worked properly if he allowed the shackles to dig in deep enough.

Bumblebee knew he shouldn't care. It was not his job to sparklingsit the Decepticon soldier, but he couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if Blitzwing indeed got sick, hurt, or even went offline. 

Would Bumblebee be allowed to leave the arena and go home? Would the show get cancelled and he'd be offlined? Would Master Disaster find someone else to fill Blitzwings' role?

There were a lot of question marks. If Blitzwing went offline would that mean he'd be offlined as well? If so, then Blitzwings' health  _ was _ also his problem; However If Blitzwing going offline meant Bumblebee would be allowed to leave, then he was going to let Blitzwing do his own thing.

Bumblebee thrust the sword forward and sank it deep into the last robots' chest. The robot stopped moving and fell to the ground, kicking sand up into the air. Bumblebee let go of the sword and left it sticking out of the robot. He then crossed his arms and looked over towards Blitzwing.

Blitzwing was standing, though a bit hunched over, in a sea of offlined robots. He was breathing heavily and had a servo pressed firmly over his stomach. Bumblebee wondered for a moment if he had gotten hit, but just then Master Disasters' voice rang out, so he immediately stood up straight and crossed his arms over his chest like nothing had happened.

“That’s all for today!” Master Disasters said, he then looked over at Blitzwing.”Same old? Or are you going to surprise me?” Blitzwings' random faceplate definitely stuck out its glossa. Master Disaster just rolled his eyes, and pulled out the controller, forcing Blitzwing to walk back to their cell. 

Bumblebee didn’t follow him. He just stood there in the middle of the arena without making a move, and that quickly caught Master Disasters' attention.

“Not you too?” He sighed, exasperated. Bumblebee shook his helm.

“No, I’ll go back to the cell.” He said and walked closer to Master Disaster, so he wouldn’t have to shout. “I just wanted to ask some questions first.” Master Disaster seemed to be relieved that Bumblebee hadn’t chosen to suddenly be just as stubborn as Blitzwing, he also looked slightly intrigued.

“You can certainly ask, but I can’t promise I will answer.” Bumblebee shrugged.

“Fair enough.” He said. “Was just wondering, hypothetically, what would happen if Blitzwing went offline? Would I be allowed to leave, or what?”

“What would happen to you if he died?” Master Disaster repeated to make sure he had understood the question right. Bumblebee nodded. “Well I guess you would just have to fight all these robots by yourself.” Bumblebee was quiet for a moment whilst he tried to comprehend what Master Disaster had said.

“When you say I'll have to fight  _ all  _ the robots by myself, do you mean I'll fight the same amount of robots as now, just without Blitzwing?” Master Disaster nodded.

“Yes, that's correct” Bumblebee stared at him with huge optics,

“You've gotta be kidding!” Bumblebee shouted in disbelief. “How could I possibly be able to fight all these robots alone?! I have enough on my plate as is by fighting the few robots that come after me! It would be totally unfair to give me Blitzwings' share as well!” Master Disaster didn’t seem at all sympathetic to Bumblebees' worry.

“Well, you are a team now.” He said slowly. “This is how I see it. If you have a soccer team and one player is unable to play, you don't just cancel the game. The team has to adapt to playing with a handicap”

“This isn’t soccer!” Bumblebee screamed in frustration, “This is nothing like soccer! I’m risking my life, and me and Blitzwing are not a team!” Master Disaster just shrugged.

“I’m sorry you don’t like it, but I don’t make the rules.” Bumblebee started fuming.

“Yes you do!” Master Disaster smirked.

“Yeah, I guess I do” 

“This isn't fair!” Bumblebee screamed up at him and stomped his ped on the ground. Master Disaster looked at him in the same way a mother watches her child having a tantrum in the toy aisle.

“Life isn’t fair; also, if you live or die doesn't really bother me. If you go offline I'll just hunt for new Decepticons and Autobots.” Bumblebee stopped his scene dead in its tracks. He felt his whole frame growing cold. It was like his energon had been frozen inside his frame.

“Hunt for more?” Bumblebee managed to get out. His voice had lost its anger and now sounded meek. 

“Of course, I’ll just catch two new ones. Make the two of them fight, and then, just slap season 2 on the cover of this show” Bumblebee felt his mouth go dry. If he and Blitzwing went offline, that could mean someone else would be held prisoner in this place. 

His mind flashed to different members of his team, fighting for survival, fighting for their lives. Images of them being locked up in that dark cell, struggling to get out, having to obey Master Disasters' every whim or else they would starve.

But the worst part was the image of what would happen if they failed the challenges, If they couldn’t keep fighting. Bumblebee tried to quickly put a stop to those thoughts. He needed to focus. He couldn't let his mind be turned foggy by those types of thoughts.

“Why would you do that?” Bumblebee asked, still slightly dazed. “You said you put on this whole show to punish the people you felt wronged you. That was me and Blitzwing. The rest of the team didn’t get in your way! Why would you kidnap them?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Master Disaster said,  as if Bumblebee was stupid for not knowing. “Money!” He exclaimed cheerfully.

“Money?” Bumblebee repeated lamely.

“Yes! Of course, money! You might not have realised this, but you guys have quite a lot of enemies. Everything from mad geniuses to petty thieves, and they are not only watching this show no, they are making donations to fund this whole thing.” He said and gestured around him. “They all want to watch you suffer, and now they can all revel in this feeling of vengeance.”

Bumblebee felt sick. That anyone could watch this show and enjoy it sickened him, but he could understand the reasoning. 

Bumblebee now realised that he and Blitzwing were the only thing that stood between this awful place and his team.

Bumblebee went quiet and processed this new information. He slowly shifted weight from one ped to the other as he thought.

Fighting all of these robots alone was not a death sentence, but it certainly didn’t look good. He would have a higher chance of survival if Blitzwing stayed online, he knew as much now. He thought for a moment about his next course of action, before it solidified in his mind. 

Master Disaster started talking again.

“Was that all?” Bumblebee shook his helm and tried to compose himself. 

“No, there was one more thing I wanted to ask . ” Master Disaster rolled his eyes.

“Well, then hurry up! I don’t have all day!” Bumblebee highly doubted that.

“You need to tighten Blitzwings' shackles.” Master Disaster dubiously lifted a brow.

“Now why would I do that?” He asked.

“They're too loose.” Bumblebee explained “They scrape up against his wrists, and are hurting him . ” Bumblebee groaned on the inside. How had his life come to this? Being worried and trying to look out for a fraggin' Decepticon. It felt like life itself was playing a prank on him. 

Master Disaster scoffed.

“That's completely his own fault, I hear him fighting those chains throughout this whole base. If he just stopped his useless struggling, he'd be fine”. Bumblebee agreed with him, but he was pretty sure that Blitzwing would not see reason, and if Bumblebee brought it up he would probably just tell him to frag off.

“But the cuffs have cut through his plating, and he keeps reopening his wounds. It might get infected or something!” Master Disaster scoffed again.

“I’m not tightening his cuffs! That would lessen their durability! I spent good money on those shackles.” Bumblebee bit his glossa, and tried to think of a plan. He couldn’t change the cuffs, so he needed to change something else. Then an idea hit him.

“Can’t you get something that could stop them from cutting into his wrists? Something that lessens the impact? That would give his wound time to heal.” Master Disaster rubbed his chin in thought.

“What do you have in mind?” 

“Like, like, fabric or something, something soft, and maybe some water” Bumblebee added as an afterthought. “Something to clean the wounds with” Master Disaster observed him for a while. It felt like he was considering what Bumblebee had said and finally, he let out a sigh.

“Sure, why not. Fixing something like that won’t be too expensive, and if it keeps that big oaf alive then you'll probably live longer as well; which means the show can go on longer” He smiled. “And that means more cash for me.” His smile dropped again. “Is there anything else you want to hassle me with , or are we done here?”

“No, I don't have anymore questions” 

“Fantastic, now  _ leave! _ ” He shouted and waved him away absentmindedly. Bumblebee rolled his optics. ‘ _ What a pompous jackass.’  _ He thought.

He made his way out of the arena, and the cell door slammed shut behind him. Blitzwing watched him as he entered, he had switched back to Icy, his optics were narrow and he looked suspicious.

“What took you so long?” He asked.

Bumblebee gave him a smirk.

“Aww, did you miss me?”

“Like rust in my undercarriage.” He snarled. 

Bumblebee walked over to the bars and looked down the hallway. Soon enough, there came the feeder bot. 

“Step-”

“-Away from the bars. I know.” Bumblebee finished, and walked to the back of the cell. The robot took out a little key, and inserted it into the padlock to open the food hatch. The robot then placed the barrel on the floor and pushed it into the cell before closing the hatch and relocking it, then the feeder robot just turned and walked away.

Bumblebees' tank made a loud rumble at the sight of the oil barrel. He wasted no time and jogged over to it. He grabbed it with both servos and just lifted it up and took big gulps of oil.

It felt so nice to finally be able to refuel, to feel that empty space in his tank disappear with every mouthful of oil he swallowed. Bumblebee saw that out of the corner of his optic Blitzwing was looking at him intensely, but Bumblebee chose to ignore him.

Bumblebee had to stop drinking about halfway through because he drank too fast and was forced to cough. 

He used the back of his servo to wipe away some of the excess oil that he had at the corner of his mouth, and was about to drink again, when he was interrupted suddenly by Blitzwing fighting his chains again. Bumblebee stopped drinking immediately and glared at him.

“You are going to reopen your wounds!” He snarled. Blitzwing momentarily stopped struggling, and his faceplate switched to Hothead.

“Stay in your lane!” He barked and continued to resist, but soon tired himself out, and was forced to take a break. Bumblebee saw that fresh, energon had started to run down his arms again.

“You reopened your wounds, you idiot!” Bumblebee growled.

“Mind your own business!” He screamed and then started to stubbornly yank at his chains again. ‘ _ Your health is my business now’.  _ Bumblebee thought angrily and continued to drink his oil. 

Whilst Bumblebee slurped up the last of his oil he thought, ' _ How can I keep him from fighting his chains, until Master Disaster provides those supplies?'  _ Bumblebee scanned his memory, trying to come up with something, and then he remembered. Every time Bumblebee had talked with Blitzwing he hadn’t he fought his chains. He hadn’t when Bumblebee had talked to him whilst trying to stand on his peds, and he hadn’t done it when Bumblebee was talking to him a second ago.

So, as long as Bumblebee continued to talk to him he might not focus on the chains so much. It was a theory, but Bumblebee considered it worth testing out, the worst thing that could happen was that it didn't work.

_ 'All I have to do is talk for as long as I can. That's one of my specialties!'  _ All he needed now was a subject, nothing that would make Blitzwing turn overly aggressive and yank his chains in anger or make Blitzwing just flat out ignore him.

“Hey Blitzwing,” He chimed up, and just like Bumblebee had predicted Blitzwing stopped fighting his chains, and turned his focus to him.

“What!?” He barked angrily.

“What do you look forward to when you get out of here?” That seemed to catch Blitzwing off guard. He was quiet for a long moment before his faceplate turned back to Icy.

“Why do you ask?” His optics narrowing in suspicion. Bumblebee shrugged.

“Just wondering” He said. “I miss playing video games the most.” He continued, answering his own question. It was not actually the thing he missed the most, but there was no way he was going to start talking about how he missed his team with a Decepticon that routinely tried to offline them. “Have you ever played video games?” Bumblebee asked, shifting the conversation. ' _ Maybe the last question was too personal? This one isn't, just a yes or no type of question.'  _ Blitzwing just looked at him for a long moment. ' _ Come on! Take the conversation bait!'  _ Bumblebee pleaded inside his helm.

“No. I haven’t” He answered slowly, like he was worried that he was stepping into some kind of trap.

“Really? Like, never? None at all?” Bumblebee asked in disbelief. He knew that not everyone was as into games as he was, but most people had played some kind of video game at least, heck Bumblebee had even once convinced Ratchet to play. It had been because he and Sari were playing a puzzle game and gotten stuck, so they had whined about it until Ratchet had come to help them figure it out

“Never.” Blitzwing answered warily.

“Oh man, you should try it. It’s really fun!” Bumblebee exclaimed, very excited to talk about one of his interests; he thought for a moment. “Maybe you should try a battle game, you seem to like violence. Or maybe a puzzle type game? Icy seems like someone that would be good at that, maybe something like solitaire, I know you can play that with regular cards but the shuffling is so annoy-” Bumblebee started to rant, but Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge and cut him off.

“Who is Icy?” Blitzwings' voice had lost its suspicious tone and had been replaced by confusion. 

Bumblebee realised what he had said, and his rant came to a screeching halt.

Icy, Hothead and Random were the names for Blitzwings' faceplates that he had come up with himself, and were used exclusively by the Autobot team. He hadn't ever considered what Blitzwing might refer to them as, or if they had actual names.

“Oh, that’s just what we Autobots call your blue faceplate.” Bumblebee explained whilst crossing his digits and hoping Blitzwing didn’t get offended, and end the conversation right then and there.

“You named my three faceplates?” Blitzwing asked. He didn’t seem offended, he actually seemed rather befuddled.

“Yeah” Blitzwing blinked a few times as he processed this information.

“What do you call the other two?” 

“We call them…” Bumblebee only now realised that the names were pretty stupid. They had been made up on the spot, and his team just never bothered to change them. Bumblebee kind of regretted it now, but in his defence he didn’t think he would actually have to tell Blitzwing about them. “We call them Random and Hothead” He mumbled truthfully. Blitzwing just looked at him, confusedly before answering him.

“Huh” was his only response, the conversation had died for the moment, so Bumblebee started talking again.

“What are their actual names?” He asked, genuinely curious now that Blitzwing could tell him. Blitzwing shook his helm.

“They have none.” Bumblebees optics widened.

“You call them nothing?” Bumblebee was quiet for a moment. He had really expected them to have names, If he had three faceplates he would want names for them. It would be difficult to specify which one you were talking about otherwise “Do other cons call them anything?” Blitzwing shook his helm again.

“No.” 

“So you never thought to name them?” 

“No”

Bumblebee couldn’t really put a digit on it, but it seemed like something was different about Blitzwing. He had stopped meeting his gaze, and his voice had taken on a strained tone ever since they had started talking about his faceplates. His answers were also pretty short and to the point in a way that didn’t give Bumblebee much to work with.

Bumblebee noticed it but wasn’t sure what to do, so he just kept talking.

“Huh” Bumblebee said quietly, “I guess you could use our names for them if you want.” 

“They are fairly on the nose wouldn’t you say?” Blitzwing responded with a smirk. “Who came up with them?”

“I don’t remember” Bumblebee lied. Something flashed in Blitzwings' optics the smirk curled up higher on his lips.

“Really? Because I’m pretty sure I could bet shanixs on it that it was you who came up with those names.” He responded teasingly. 

“Wh-what?! Are you calling me a liar?” Bumblebee blurted out hastily, trying to look offended.

“Yes, and a particularly bad one at that,” His faceplate switched to Random. “You really need to step up your game! I’m not sure even the constructicons would believe one of your lies!” He said as he cackled.

“Okay, fine! It was me that came up with them!” Bumblebee admitted. “But it was in the heat of the moment! I didn't really have a lot of time to think!” Blitzwing didn’t say anything as he just continued to smile gleefully. Bumblebee let out a huff and crossed his arms. 

The conversation had turned silent again. Bumblebee tried to think of other conversation topics, but suddenly Blitzwings' faceplate switched back to Icy, and he surprised Bumblebee by picking up where the conversation left off by himself.

“It's flying, by the way.” Bumblebee looked up at him confused.

“What?” 

“About what I’m looking forward to when I get out, I want to fly” His faceplate switched to Hothead. “And being able to fragging move around!” He said and gave a sharp yank on one of the chains. 

“Flying is what you look forward to the most? Why?” Blitzwing was quiet for a moment. His jaw had clenched, and it looked like he was thinking. It took some time before he finally formed a sentence.

“I don’t like to have my movement hindered. ” He said, like he was picking out the words very carefully. “And you can’t possibly feel more free than when you are flying” 

“Oh,” Bumblebee answered. “Is that why you fight your chains so much? You don’t like to feel trapped?” Blitzwing didn’t answer, so Bumblebee continued. “Like, I don’t think I would like it if I was stuck to a wall either, but why are you so determined to get out of them that you’re willing to give up your own health? Why would you do something like that?” Bumblebee asked looking directly at Blitzwing, and as the last word slipped out of his mouth he could see a shudder go through Blitzwings' frame. It was a ‘blink and you’ll miss it moment,’ and Bumblebee for a moment, even doubted himself if he had actually seen it, and it wasn't his optics playing a trick on him, but he soon decided that it had not been his imagination. Blitzwing had shuddered, and considering that the cell was pretty warm at the moment, he could assume that it wasn't because Blitzwing had gotten cold. 

Bumblebee quickly had other things to worry about though, because just a second after the small shudder Blitzwing bared his denta and a deep scowl appeared on his faceplate, it was about that point that Bumblebee realised he had stepped on some kind of nerve.

“What Is this? An interrogation?!” He snapped. “Stop asking me so many fragging questions!” 

“Woah! Calm down! I was just curious!” Bumblebee said, defending himself.

“Why don’t I start asking you tons of questions, and see how you like it?! Where is your base?! Who is the weakest link on your team?! Who is the most dispensable?!” Bumblebees optics left Blitzwing and he tried to find something else to focus on whilst he fiddled his digits. Blitzwing noticed his behaviour and continued speaking. “It doesn't feel good does it!? So why don’t you stop poking around where you’re not supposed to, and stop pestering me with questions!” Blitzwing hissed, venom in his voice. He then turned his helm to the side and looked down the hall.

Bumblebee went quiet. He realised then that Blitzwing turning his helm away was pretty much the signal that he was done talking. 

Bumblebee crossed his arms over his chest, and let out a quiet huff. He had just asked some questions! He could have said he didn’t want to answer! He didn’t have to snap at him! 

Bumblebee went quiet for the moment, he was not going to let Blitzwing avoid him that easily. Slowly a smirk crept up Bumblebees' lips. ' _ He said I couldn't ask anymore questions. He never told me to stop talking!' _

“Whatever.” Bumblebee said, and shrugged. “If you don’t want to talk then I guess I'll do it for the both of us So…” He said and clapped his servos together. “Back to video games-” 

Bumblebee spoke for quite a while about different games he'd played, about the different gaming consoles and games he wanted to play when he got out, and pretty much anything that was related to it. 

Blitzwing didn’t respond, he just kept stubbornly staring out into the hallway like Bumblebee wasn’t even there, but Bumblebee noticed that even if Blitzwing didn’t engage in the conversation he was pretty sure he was still listening. He at least didn't start fighting his chains again.

It felt good to talk again, just talking about whatever popped into his processor, it was nice; even if it felt a bit like talking to a brick wall. 

Bumblebee had several times, all throughout his life gotten into trouble for running his mouth, and had been told several times by different people to ‘fraggin' shut up!’ But Blitzwing didn’t actually seem to mind him running his mouth like he hadn’t spoken to anyone in 100 stellar cycles! 

Bumblebee had honestly expected him to snap at him, and tell him how annoying he was being, or that he wanted to tear out Bumblebees' voice box, but he didn’t look irritated or annoyed which was a surprise, but finally a welcomed one. So Bumblebee just continued to talk enthusiastically whilst he wildly gestured with his servos.

“So they have this thing called turn based combat, it’s when you take turns attacking an enemy, people are always making fun of how unrealistic it is, but I personally think-”

Suddenly, while Bumblebee was in mid sentence, Blitzwings' expression turned into scowl. He bared his denta and he suddenly yanked hard against his cuffs making a loud rattling noise.

Bumblebees spark skipped a beat. He hadn’t been prepared for Blitzwings' sudden movement and was caught off guard. A first Bumblebee didn’t know what had set Blitzwing off, but he quickly noticed that Blitzwing was still looking out into the hall, and he was making a low dangerous growl.

Bumblebees' attention was also drawn to the hallway, and there he saw Master Disaster.

He was accompanied by two robots. One was holding a plastic bucket that was making splashing sounds and the other was carrying what looked to be at least 10 rolled up bandages. 

Bumblebee stepped away from the bars so he wouldn’t have to hear their warning to back up.

The robots opened the little food hatch, and slid in the objects before closing it again.

“There.” Master Disaster hissed, he then turned and started to walk away. Bumblebee watched him start to leave, and hurriedly made his way over to the bars.

“Wait!” He called out. Master Disaster stopped, letting out a deep sigh and turned around. He was scowling and he looked very agitated.

“What is it?” He said between gritted teeth.

“Aren’t you going to clean his wounds and stuff?” Bumblebee asked, and tried to make a discreet nod towards Blitzwing. Master Disaster let out a harsh laugh. 

“Oh no. That’s your job.”

“What?!” Bumblebee hissed. “To do that I'd need to get right up to him! He'll tear me to shreds!” For every word Bumblebee said, it looked like Master Disaster was losing more and more patience with what Bumblebee had to say.

“Well, I’m certainly not sending any robots in there to do it, he'd probably just destroy them. Also they would be forced to open the door to get in. Which is now off limits because of your little escape attempt. And to be perfectly honest I don't really care”

Bumblebee bit his glossa. He didn’t exactly regret trying to escape, he did however dislike all the new rules his escape attempt had implemented.

“Oh come on! Are you still mad about that? Trying to escape from captivity is a natural response! You can’t blame me for trying!”

“Yes, yes I can.” Master Disaster said, who sounded completely done with this conversation. “If you won’t do it, then don’t do it, but no one else is going to do it either.” he said, and turned around.

“H-hey! Wait!” Master Disaster didn’t even look back. He just continued forward accompanied by his two robots, and soon enough he was out of sight.

As soon as Master Disaster was gone, Bumblebee swore under his breath and turned his back to the hallway and looked down at the bucket that had been dropped off.

It was full of water, and a yellow sponge was floating on the surface.

Bumblebee squatted down and dipped one digit in the water. It was lukewarm which was a little surprising. He had been expecting Master Disaster not to bother and just send in a bucket of ice cold water. 

Bumblebee shook the water off his digits, and turned instead to the bandages. 

He took one of the rolled up bandages and inspected it, it looked new and clean. He rubbed the fabric with his thumb to feel the texture. It would definitely soften the scrape of the chains and would protect Blitzwings' wrists. The only problem was the question of  _ how  _ he was going to put it around his wrists. 

_ ‘Maybe I could do it when he’s recharging? Last time I tried to wake him up I had to literally slap him awake, maybe he won’t notice if I sneak up on him and put them on?’  _ Bumblebee shook his helm, even he realised that was a stupid plan. He tried to come up with another idea, but his thoughts were interrupted when Blitzwing spoke up in Icys voice.

“What is that?” Bumblebee glanced over towards him. Blitzwing had leaned a bit forward in an attempt to get a better look at the items that had just been brought in. 

“It’s water and bandages” Bumblebee explained, holding up a roll for him to see clearly. It was quiet for a moment. Bumblebee prepared for the questions that would follow.

“Why did he drop off water and bandages?” Bumblebee stayed silent for a moment. He took a deep breath.

“It’s because you hurt your wrists. I asked if he could clean the wounds and get something that could protect them from the scraping of the cuffs.” It was quiet again, and Bumblebee was preparing for Hothead to come out and scream at him to stay in his lane, and to mind his own business, but Blitzwing never switched.

“Why?” He asked instead. He actually sounded befuddled as to why Bumblebee would do such a thing.

“Well…” Bumblebee started. “If you go offline then I will have to fight all those robots by myself, and I’m not saying that I’m not a great fighter. I’m like, S tier.” Blitzwing didn’t look convinced, “But I think that fighting all of them would be a bit much even for me. Also, if we go offline Master Disaster will kidnap someone else on your or my team” He went quiet again. “Also it just looks like it really hurts.” Bumblebee said as an afterthought. He soon realized that had been a mistake. Blitzwings faceplate switched.

“I don’t need your pity! And I don’t need your help!” Bumblebee scowled.

“I don’t pity you. I was just stating a fact.” Bumblebee started, “And I don’t  _ pity  _ you. I think this is rightful karma for you being such a douche.” Blitzwing scowl deepend at that. “And I get that you don’t  _ want  _ help, but you  _ need  _ help to put the bandages on, and I  _ need  _ you to stay alive.” Bumblebee sighed. “And if you don't want to see it as help, then see it as a transaction. We both get what we want, You don’t hurt your wrist, and stay online, and I don’t have to fight all those robots alone.”

Blitzwing was quiet for a long time. Bumblebee could practically see the gears turning in his helm as he thought about what Bumblebee had said. Bumblebee felt relieved when Blitzwing switched back to Icy. Random and Hothead were hard to have a conversation with, but while he was on Icy he seemed more inclined to actually engage in real conversation and think more logically at stuff. If Blitzwing only acted on his emotions then this deal would already be off, but now Bumblebee had a chance to persuade him to agree.

“Let me ask you a fair question Autobot, what makes you think I would let you anywhere near me?” Blitzwings' words were like ice, cold and devoid of emotion.

“Like I said: Helping you will benefit us both.” Blitzwing optics narrowed, distrust written all over his faceplate.

“How do I know that anything you are saying is true and that this is not some sort of trick?” Bumblebee felt extremely tired, He had been prepared for Blitzwing to be not very inclined to agree and distrustful but Primus, his paranoia was bad.

“You're a really distrusting mech, did you know that?” Bumblebee asked sarcastically Blitzwing didn’t seem to relax even the slightest bit from what he said so Bumblebee just continued to speak “What would I gain by doing something to you?” He sighed. “I don’t like it but I need you to stay online. It would not benefit me in anyway to offline you”

“It would remove me as a threat to your life, so I can clearly see a reason as to why it would  _ benefit  _ you” Blitzwing retorted. Bumblebee agreed, Blitzwing  _ was _ a threat to his life, but he also believed that as long as he kept his distance he would be okay. 

“Yes, but then I'd still be in the danger of fighting all those robots alone, which I believe has a higher chance of offlining me, than if you stay online, no offence.” Blitzwing still didn't look entirely convinced, so Bumblebee continued. “Also, what could I possibly do to you? I get close to you, great, then what? Will I tear your helm off? Rip out your spark? Seriously, what do you think I could possibly do? The only thing I have at my disposal is: a sponge and ten packs of bandages. Please enlighten me as to what you think my master plan is?” Bumblebee said with a smirk and a tuning voice, like he was mocking Blitzwing for being afraid of him.

Blitzwing gritted his denta slightly, but it also looked like he was thinking. Bumblebee crossed his digits that his reasoning had gotten into that thick processor of his.

Blitzwing was staring intensely right into Bumblebee optics, like he would somehow be able to stare right into his mind and see if he was deceitful or not.

Bumblebee stood his ground, and didn’t look away. They stayed like that for a moment before Blitzwing sighed in defeat, and his expression relaxed.

“Fine, but if you try anything, I’ll offline you on the spot.” 

“That’s fair, but first I have a condition ” Blitzwing raised an optic ridge. “You have to promise that you won’t hurt me” Blitzwings faceplate switched to Random he and laughed.

“How will you know that my promises aren't just empty words? You said it yourself! deception is in my team name!” He said, and continued to laugh. 

Bumblebees' expression turned serious.

“I have no way of knowing. You know that, just as well as I do, but it’s better than nothing.” Blitzwing stopped laughing and his faceplate spun back to Icy.

“Sure whatever,” He said nonchalantly. Bumblebee shook his helm.

“No, you need to do better than that. Look me in the optic, and give me your word” Blitzwings' optics met Bumblebees. They were full of irritation, and Bumblebee could see clearly that Blitzwing hated every moment of this. 

“I, Blitzwing, a loyal soldier of the Decepticons, give you my word that I won’t damage you as long as you uphold your end of the bargain, and do not attempt to harm me in any way.” He growled. “There, Is that good enough for you?” Blitzwing asked coldly. Bumblebee was quiet for a moment as he thought it over. That promise didn’t make him feel a lot safer, but he was pretty sure this was as good he was going to get.

He nodded slightly. He went quiet, and looked at Icys faceplate.

“You have to tell the other two not to hurt me as well.” Blitzwing looked slightly confused.

“Who?” 

“Random and Hothead” Bumblebee explained. Blitzwings look of confusion turned to anger as he understood, and he gritted his denta again.

“That’s not how it works.” Bumblebee cocked his helm to the side.

“It isn’t?” Blitzwing faceplate switched to Hothead.

“No you stupid bug! There are not three people inside my helm! There is only I! Blitzwing!” He yelled angrily.

“Really? Then what’s up with the switching?” Bumblebee asked whilst waving his servo in front of his faceplate to imitate Blitzwings' multiple faces and their switching.

“That’s none of your business! Now, are you going to start bandaging my wounds or not?!” He barked. 

“Yeesh” Bumblebee muttered. “Yeah, yeah just, chill out” 

He then grabbed the bucket with the sponge, and started to make his way over to Blitzwing, being mindful of the bucket so he wouldn't spill water everywhere.

He soon got close enough that he knew he was well within kicking range. He kept close optics on Blitzwings' movement, preparing to jump out of the way if he had to. Bumblebees' frame was stiff and his servos were shaking a little. He knew that this was a very dangerous situation and that it could end very badly for him.

_ ‘Just stay calm. If he hurts you he'll lose on this as well. He has no reason to hurt you. ‘ _

These thoughts didn’t comfort Bumblebee a lot. He tried to think logically about what Blitzwing would do, but Blitzwing was crazy, he could just get an impulse and offline him because of that. But despite his worries he did his best to keep on a brave face, and continued forward whilst looking for signs that Blitzwing would take advantage of the situation and pounce.

However; Blitzwing didn’t move. He just sat there. Then Bumblebee noticed that he was clenching his servos into tight fists. Bumblebee couldn’t see his optics behind the visor but it was clear he was closely following Bumblebees' movement. He was also lightly biting his lip.

Bumblebee was a little confused at first, but it soon became apparent to him what was going on.

_ ‘Is he nervous? Is he seriously as worried about me being close to him as I am worried about him being close to me?’  _ That thought made Bumblebee feel a little bit better. He also found it a little funny that this “viscous, unhinged triple changer” was so nervous about a tiny Autobot. 

Bumblebee was able to walk all the way up to him without any incidents.

‘ _ Primus he’s big’.  _ He often felt small when he was with other cybertronians, as he was more often than not the smallest one in any group, but few Autobots were more than three times his size! Blitzwing was also leaning a bit forward, looming over him. It made Bumblebees spark beat faster and his instincts were telling him to turn around and run. 

However; Bumblebee tried to ignore these feelings, and put the bucket down on the ground and grabbed the sponge out of the water. He then looked up at Blitzwings' wrists and noticed that he was a bit too short.

‘ _ How am I gonna get up there?’  _ It was embarrassing, but he tried to stand on the tip of his peds, but it still wasn't a very good position to work in. He stretched his arms up as much as possible and was barely able to reach. His arms started to shake from the strain.

Suddenly Blitzwing moved, which made Bumblebee jump. He immediately got in an attack position and held the sponge towards him like a weapon. Blitzwings' movement also stopped and they just stood there, frozen in time, before Blitzwing shook himself back into motion.

“I’m changing my sitting position," Blitzwing said, “No need to get a spark attack” 

He moved so that he was kneeling on his knees instead. “There.” He said, and looked at Bumblebee expectantly. When Bumblebee didn’t move so did his faceplate switch to Random.

“You’re an itty bitty little bug! So you can stand on my lap if you need to get higher!” He said and let out a mocking laugh. Bumblebee glared at him, but he let his attack position drop and relaxed slightly.

He looked back at Blitzwings' thighs and then to the wound on his wrist as he tried to assess if he could get into a better position to work, or if he did need to stand on his lap. To his great annoyance he realised that the only way he could possibly be able to get a good angle to treat Blitzwing wounds was if he accepted Blitzwings offer. 

He sighed in annoyance, swallowed his pride, and slowly put one ped on each of Blitzwing thighs and stepped up. He then placed a servo on Blitzwings arm for support. He took a moment to make sure he had his balance.

It felt uncomfortable to be this close to the Decepticon, he could smell the scent of soot and smoke coming off of Blitzwings' frame. There was also a hint of gunpowder which he guessed Blitzwing had Lugnut to thank for.

Now that they were closer in height, Bumblebee didn’t have to crank his neck, and Blitzwing didn’t have to look down for their optics to meet. Bumblebee didn’t know if it was worse to feel small around Blitzwing or to be on the same level, and be faceplate to faceplate with him.

Last time he had been this close to Blitzwing was the first time they had entered the arena, and Blitzwing had pinned him to the floor. He shook that memory out of his helm, it would only increase his anxiety over this whole situation.

Bumblebee turned his gaze to Blitzwings' wrists. He saw out of the corner of his optics that Blitzwing was watching him closely. Bumblebee did his best to ignore him.

Bumblebee had to agree that he was at a much better angle now and could see the wound more clearly, it was not leaking energion at the moment, but it was still pretty fresh. He also saw a bit of sand that had gotten stuck in it. There was also dried energon down Blitzwings' arm, and around the edges of the cuffs. 

Slowly Bumblebee raised the sponge and started to carefully clean out the wound. He dabbed the sponge softly against the wound, trying his best to be gentle and make it painless. He was a bit worried that if he was too rough he would hurt Blitzwing and then he would get hurt in turn.

Bumblebee came to a part of the injury where a lot of sand had wedged itself pretty deep, and Bumblebee frowned. He tried to gently remove it, but that proved unsuccessful. He started to try cleaning it by being a little rougher. He started to get frustrated, and he finally made a quick and hard stroke and was able to get all the sand out in one rough swipe.

Blitzwing hissed sharply and his whole arm shook and tensed before he relaxed again. Bumblebee realised that he might have done it a bit too rough and froze. Blitzwings' faceplate switched to Hothead.

“Careful!” He growled, sounding even more terrifying now that Bumblebee was so close to him.

Despite that Bumblebee frowned and bit back.

“Don’t act like such a sparkling, you brought this on yourself.” Bumblebee hissed. “There was a lot of sand that I was trying to get out” Blitzwing let out a huff and Bumblebee returned back to his work. He was quiet for a moment before he started feeling a little bad, and spoke up again. “But I guess I could have tried to be more gentle, or could have warned you, sorry” Blitzwing muttered something but Bumblebee couldn’t make out what it was so he just continued cleaning his wound. Sometimes he was a bit careless by accident making Blitzwing let out a quiet hiss of pain, but not much more.

Bumblebee cleaned out all the sand and started cleaning around the wound, finally getting rid of the pink stains on his black paint. When it looked clean enough so jumped Bumblebee off of Blitzwings' thighs, and dropped the sponge back into the water with a splash making a few drops land on the floor and giving the water a pink tone. He then grabbed a bandage roll. 

He got back up and started to rap the wound. He used two rolls just to be certain it would not be cut through by the cuffs as quickly, he didn’t want to have to repeat this anytime soon. 

Bumblebee looked at his work. It was not the best. But he deemed it good enough, it fulfilled its purpose.

He grabbed the sponge again and repeated the process with the gash on Blitzwings' other wrist.

The whole time Bumblebee worked he could feel Blitzwing closely following him with his optics, watching his every movement. Bumblebee also noticed that when he moved a bit too quickly Blitzwing would flinch and his breathing would sometimes stop for a second. It was very subtle, but Bumblebee caught him doing it a handful of times, but he didn’t dare acknowledge it, he knew that would only lead to problems.

Bumblebee finished bandaging Blitzwings' other wrist. He let go of Blitzwings' arm, and leaned back to admire his work. 

From the corner of his optics he could see a devious smile appear on Blitzwing faceplate before it switched to Random. 

Suddenly Blitzwing violently shook his legs, and Bumblebee lost his balance. Bumblebee tried immediately to save himself from falling down onto the hard stone floor and in a knee jerk reaction Bumblebee threw his arms around Blitzwings' neck and pulled himself close. His spark was beating like crazy after that startle and he needed a moment for his mind to catch up with what had just happened.

He looked forward and was met by Blitzwing wide optics.

He and Blitzwings faceplates were only about three centimeters from each other, and Bumblebees' chest was closely pressed against Blitzwing, and he could feel the warmth that radiated from the triple changers frame.

Both of them looked surprised by suddenly being so close to each other and they were both in shock

Bumblebee felt his faceplate start burning as hot energion rushed into his cheeks and he immediately let go of Blitzwings' neck and tried to move backwards to put some distance between them, but as he moved backwards he accidentally tripped on his own ped and he started falling.

He felt a feeling of dread when he realised he was going to hit the floor and also that he was falling backwards and would be unable to catch himself. He closed his optics tight and prepared for the impact and the pain that would accompany it.

Suddenly Bumblebee could hear the rattle of chains and felt something grab his arm tightly and he stopped in mid air.

Bumblebee slowly opened one optic and looked up at his arm. He saw that a big servo had grabbed him and saved him from falling to the floor. He followed it with his optics until he saw Blitzwings' faceplate. 

“You have absolutely zero balance!” He mocked. Bumblebee scowled

“It's not my fault! It was you who shook your leg and made me lose my balance!” Bumblebee glared at him while he dangled in the air. Blitziwngs' faceplate switched to Icy.

“I suppose you have a point.” He replied. “Do you want me to let you down?” He then continued in a more teasing tone. 

Bumblebee just continued to glower in silence, so Blitzwing let go of Bumblebees arm and Bumblebee fell a short distance and landed on his peds with a quiet thud. He crossed his arms over his chest and tried to look as displeased as possible. 

He let out an annoyed sigh and then took one final glance at Blitzwings' damaged wrist and decided it looked good enough.

“That's as good as it’s gonna get” He said “Try not to destroy the wrappings too quickly” Blitzwing quickly switched to Random.

“No promises” He said teasingly. Bumblebee rolled his optics.

“Do what you want.” Bumblebee huffed. “But if you keep struggling with the chains so much that you destroy both the bandages  _ and  _ reopen your wounds, then I will not help your sorry aft!” He then turned his back to Blitzwing and started to make his way over to his side of the cell. He heard Blitzwings' faceplate spin behind him.

“Thanks.” Bumblebee stopped, and wondered if he had heard that right, or if he was just imagining things. He turned around and looked at Blitzwing. He had turned his helm away and was staring into the hallway again.

“What did you say?” Bumblebee asked genuinely, not trying mock Blitzwing.

But Blitzwing didn’t even spare him a glance, he just continued to stare out into the hallway without saying another word.

Bumblebee shrugged and turned around, Blitzwing hadn’t repeated himself but Bumblebee just knew that he had heard him right. 

Blitzwing the insane, volatile, dangerous triple changer had just thanked an Autobot. That thought put a cocky smile on Bumblebees' faceplate and he felt some of his pride return.


	7. Chapter 7

The room shook Bumblebee awake, announcing the start of a new day.

Bumblebee quickly flew up onto his peds and made his way over to the wall; it opened up just enough so Bumblebee could slip out of the cell and into the arena.

Like he normally tried to do, his first plan was to put some space between him and Blitzwing, but that plan came crashing down when he had to quickly skid to stop when he realised he was about to run straight into a wall.

Bumblebee looked at the wall with huge optics. ‘ _This wasn’t here before’._ To Bumblebees' surprise, the wall appeared to be made entirely out of mirrors. 

The walls had a roof of metal connecting them, and looked just tall enough to support Blitzwings' height. 

He looked around and saw that the wall was made in a half semicircle around their cell opening. The sand that was usually on the floor had also been cleaned up, leaving a floor made of hard concrete.

Bumblebee looked to his left and saw that the hallway continued forward, lit up by lamps bolted to the walls.

Bumblebee stopped focusing on the hallway and instead just looked at himself in the mirror's reflection. It was the first time he had been able to take a look at himself for quite some time. His paint had become dull and was no longer a bright yellow color. It had been dented and scratched in several places. He raised his right servo and tried to touch the mirror's surface, only to realise that there was some kind of glass in front of it. 

He furrowed optic ridges in confusion, he tried knocking a few times on the glass and a dull 'thunk' sound came from it. It sounded like the glass was unusually thick, he quickly had other things to worry about though, when he heard the distinct click sound of Blitzwing handcuffs, releasing him, and sending a chill through Bumblebees' frame. 

Bumblebee could clearly see Blitzwing in the reflection of the mirror. He saw how, first he rose up to one knee, and how only then did he slowly stand up, and walk out of the cell.

Bumblebee turned around and slowly started to make his way into the hallway backwards, making sure to keep Blitzwing in his line of sight.

This was a bad situation, Bumblebee knew that much. He had been close and had even helped Blitzwing yesterday, but Blitzwing had been tied up at the time, and had given him his word that he wouldn't hurt him. Now though, he was free and had no reason _not_ to attack him. 

Blitzwing walked forward and noticed the mirror. His expression, much like Bumblebees, quickly turned to one of confusion and just like Bumblebee he looked at himself in the reflection. His faceplate suddenly spun to Random, and he started to make faces in the mirror while giggling to himself. He then turned his attention to Bumblebee and they locked optics.

Bumblebee was preparing to turn tail and run, so he continued to watch Blitzwing closely, looking for any hint of aggression or sign that he was going to pounce on him. His spark was pulsing quickly inside its chamber, and he felt very on edge as he waited for Blitzwing to make a move.

However, Blitzwing just went back to looking himself over, completely ignoring Bumblebee.

Bumblebees' spark slowly calmed down, he knew that he shouldn’t be calming down, but he had noticed that Blitzwing seemed a lot more... relaxed? Then he usually was. His shoulders weren't as squared as they typically were, and his whole frame just didn’t look as imposing. However, Bumblebee also noticed that Blitzwing kept glancing towards him, always keeping an optic on him. It seemed like he might be less aggressive, albeit still not very trusting, but Bumblebee was fine with that, not being trusted was way better than being attacked.

Noticing Blitzwings' calmness was what made Bumblebee finally stop feeling so on edge, but Blitzwing was unpredictable at best, and still a Decepticon so, it was probably for the best to stay at least a little on guard. 

Suddenly a familiar voice rang out. “Hello, my dear contestants!” 

Bumblebee looked around for Master Disaster but could find him anywhere. From wherever he was, Master Disaster continued. “Now you might be thinking ‘what’s going on?’ or ‘what is this?.’ Well, let me explain! I have chosen to give you a bit of a break from all the fighting. So, today's challenge will instead be for you to escape this maze! The challenge will be over when you have found the way out!" He exclaimed excitedly. "You might wonder why the walls are made out of mirrors, so let me explain, What you actually see are one way mirrors with several sheets of bulletproof glass in front of it. I would have preferred to have the walls made of stone, but that would have meant we'd have to put cameras inside the hallway, and I simply don’t trust that you guys would leave them alone. So, behind the mirrors are our filming equipment, but of course you can not see them, and sadly, this set up makes it impossible for us to get audio, but I think that people will find this very entertaining either way. So good luck!...And of course, don't die.” And with that the voice cut off. 

Both Bumblebee and Blitzwing just stood there for a minute unmoving, just absorbing the information they had been given.

The silence was suddenly broken when Blitzwing, without any warning, reeled his fist back and punched the glass with all his might. The glass cracked in a spiderweb pattern, but it didn’t completely shatter, and it seemed to retain its structural integrity. Blitzwing slowly pulled his fist back and shook out his servo as if in pain.

Bumblebee cautiously took a few steps away because of the violent action, but didn’t run away just yet.

Blitzwing observed the servo he had punched the glass with, probably looking for any glass that might have cut him or something. That didn't seem to be the case though, as he put his servo over the damaged glass and pushed slightly, but the glass didn’t seem to crack anymore, and it didn’t look to be giving out anytime soon. 

Blitzwing looked over at him, and Bumblebee immediately prepared to run, incase Blitzwing decided to pounce. There was no way that Blitzwing didn't notice Bumblebees' nervousness, but he paid it no mind, and chose not to comment on it. He instead made a carefree shrug and smiled his jagged grin.

“It was worth a try!” He said, and let out a giggle before his faceplate switched back to Icy. He put his servos on his hips and looked down towards Bumblebee with an emotionless expression.

Bumblebee supposed he could run or drive far ahead to get away from him, but before he decided what to do, Blitzwing spoke up.

“Let’s move out so we can go back to the cell.” Bumblebee was a little caught off guard, and stared at him whilst he tried to figure out if he had heard him right. _We_. Blitzwing had said we. Meaning, he meant both himself, and Bumblebee, and that they should go back together. Bumblebee quickly scrambled to form a reply.

“Yeah, let’s go.” He said, trying to sound determined.

“You go first.” Blitzwings' tone made it clear that it was a demand and not a suggestion. Bumblebee rolled his optics and shrugged.

“Sure, just don’t stab me in the back or anything.” He said in a dry tone, he was half joking and half serious. Blitzwing just let out a huff and rolled his optics as well, then both of them started walking forward into the maze.

Bumblebee heard every step Blitzwing took behind him. His footfalls were so heavy and loud that it was hard to not hear them, but despite that, Bumblebee glanced over his shoulder and saw that Blitzwing was still very much behind him, keeping a steady pace. 

They were about five meters apart, but It still was a bit too close for Bumblebees liking. If Blitzwing got the bright idea to try and jump him or something there was no guarantee that Bumblebee would be able to respond fast enough. Despite that, Bumblebee didn't try to create more distance between them. It seemed safe enough to be this close to him at the moment, and he was pretty sure that if Blitzwing wanted to attack him he would have done so already. 

Bumblebee was glad that Blitzwing hadn’t decided to offline him as soon as he got released, but Bumblebee still couldn’t figure out why he hadn’t. Don’t get him wrong, he very much wanted to remain alive, but he was confused as to why Blitzwing hadn’t slammed him into the ground like the first time they had entered the arena. Even if Bumblebee wanted the answer to that question he didn't dare to ask it, on the off chance that it would just make Blitzwing realize that they were enemies and that he, by Decepticon standards, should probably offline Bumblebee. 

So Bumblebee tried to come up with his own explanation for Blitzwing passiveness. Maybe he just didn't feel like attacking him today? Or maybe this was some kind of evil scheme? Or maybe he was just insane. Bumblebee finally decided not to think anymore about it. All of his explanations had huge plot holes in them, and none of them felt satisfying. 

They continued to walk in complete silence. The only sound being their footsteps as they echoed through the empty corridors. It felt a bit awkward, but Bumblebee couldn’t think of any topics that he could bring up at the moment, he was also worried that if he said the wrong thing Blitzwing would get pissed off and attack him. What Bumblebee had learned from his few conversations with the mech was that conversing with him was like walking through a minefield; he never knew what was going to set him off.

Bumblebee got pulled from his train of thoughts when suddenly, the hallway split into two paths. Bumblebee stopped and he heard Blitzwings' footsteps come to a halt a bit behind him. He turned around and looked at the big mech, Blitzwing was still about 5 meters behind him, thankfully respecting the space they had between them.

“So, which path do you want us to take?” Blitzwing looked down at him, then to the fork in the road, then back again.

“You can choose, there are no discernable differences as far as I can tell.” Bumblebee looked back at the paths before them, hoping for some indication of where to go, but they both looked to be pretty much the same. With no hint of where to go Bumblebee start quietly mumbling:

“Eenie meenie miney mo..” Until he ended up on the path to the right.

“We’ll take the right path!” He declared to Blitzwing and turned right. Once he started walking he looked behind him and was quite shocked to see that Blitzwing was actually following him. He had half expected Blitzwing to take the left path as a way to get away from him, but he seemed committed to following Bumblebee; he wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

Bumblebee reached out his servo and let it slide along the right side of the wall, as he searched for a topic of conversation. He started speaking loudly so Blitzwing could still hear him despite not actively looking at him.

“Did you know that when you’re in a maze you're supposed to pick one side and stick to it?” It was silent for a second and Bumblebee saw in the mirrored walls that Blitzwing was looking at him.

“No, I did not.” He responded.

“If you choose a wall, and follow it, you can never get lost and you will always find the way out” Bumblebee explained “Sari told me that.”

“Sari?" He said a bit thoughtfully, "That's a strange name.”

“Yeah, well she’s a human” 

“That would explain it.” Blitzwing responded, a hint of disgust in his voice. “What makes you trust this _humans'_ maze knowledge?” 

“Well, you see.” Bumblebee started explaining, “Humans have this thing called cereal, they eat it to refuel so to speak, but they like, only eat it in the morning for some reason? They add milk or yogurt to it, so it’s like a combination, anyway I’m getting off track. So anyway cereal comes, in these boxes, and on the back of the boxes they sometimes have mazes, and quizzes, and stuff and she's beaten every maze she's tried so far.” Blitzwing was quiet for a _super_ _long_ moment before responding.

“So, you trust this humans' knowledge about mazes, because they can get through a maze drawn onto a box?” His voice was drenched with scepticism.

“Why not? If you have any maze tips of your own I'd love to hear them.” Bumblebee responded. He heard Blitzwing faceplate switch behind him.

“Don’t get lost!” He said and let out a laugh. 

“Great tip.” Bumblebee responded sarcastically, but he couldn’t help but crack a smile. 

Bumblebee heard Blitzwings' faceplate switch again, and he spoke up with a calm voice.

“You seem to place quite a lot of trust in this human.”

“Yeah.” Bumblebee answered, “She’s like, one of my best friends.” He said with a smile, but as soon as the words left his mouth it felt like someone had stabbed him in the spark.

_‘I Wonder how she’s doing.’_ He thought back to the last time he had seen her. It had been right before he had gone out to patrol the city, the same night he had been taken. She had fallen asleep on the sofa while they were watching Indiana Jones. He had carried her to bed before he had taken his patrol shift and that's when he had been kidnapped. He hadn’t even been allowed to say good bye, he had just left her sleeping in her bed without saying a word. The thought of her reaction to waking up the next morning and asking for him, just to be told that he was missing, hurt.

_‘I wonder if she watched the rest of the movie without me? Or if she’s waiting for me to come back.’_

His thoughts were interrupted when Blitzwing started talking again.

“Why do you engage in socialisation with life forms that are lesser than yourself?” He asked, a hint of disapproval in his voice, like he was criticising and condemning Bumblebees choice to be around humans.

Bumblebee snapped out of his thoughts and filed them away to think about later.

“First of all, humans are not lesser than us just because they are organic, no one is above anyone, we are all worth the same and all life forms should be protected.” Blitzwing muttered something that sounded like “Fraggin' Autobots” Bumblebee let it slide this time, and continued. “Second of all, humans and human culture are really fun. Earth is a really great place if you give it a chance… And don’t try to destroy stuff every two seconds.” He mumbled that last bit.

“What was that last part?” Blitzwing asked, daring Bumblebee to repeat himself.

“Nothing!” He said with a bit of a smile. Blitzwing seemed to let it go and continued speaking.

“I personally don’t understand how you can stand being around those organics with their greasy little servos and pores.” Blitzwing said, as if he felt disgusted just thinking about it.

“They aren't that bad! And they don’t have to touch you to be able to hang out!” Bumblebee said, feeling a bit offended on the humans behalf.

“Why would I waste my time speaking with an organic creature when I could just talk to a cybertronian instead?.” He asked, clearly daring Bumblebee to come up with a come up with a rebuttal. 

“Well, for one thing, they could give you tips on how to get out of mazes.” Bumblebee said with a cheeky smirk. Blitzwing was quiet for a moment before he sighed and responded.

“Touché” 

As they took another turn Bumblebee noticed something, a bit further ahead he could see something red sticking out of the wall. Bumblebee stopped, then turned and faced Blitzwing.

“Hey, You see that?” Bumblebee said, and pointed at the thing. Blitzwing stopped walking as well and followed Bumblebees' digit with his optics to the object he was pointing at. His monocle started zooming in and out, trying to find the correct distance to see it clearly.

“It looks like a button.” He said, as his monocle cycled back to normal. 

“A button?” Bumblebee repeated, and returned his attention back down the hallway. “What for?” 

“How am I supposed to know?” Blitzwing responded, with a bit more annoyance in his voice.

“Welp, Only one way to find out!” Bumblebee said excitedly, and started walking towards it. He only took a few steps before he realized he couldn’t hear Blitzwing walking behind him. He stopped and turned around to see what he was doing.

He saw that Blitzwing hadn't moved an inch and was just standing there, arms crossed over his chest, observing him.

“What’s the holdup?” Bumblebee asked, Blitzwing looked at Bumblebee like he was an idiot for asking that.

“Do you not care for your own wellbeing, or were you just created with half a processor?” Bumblebee scowled.

“Better half than a third.” Blitzwing took a second to register what Bumblebee had said before his faceplate switched to Hothead.

“Listen here Autobot! Don’t you realise we could be walking helms first into a trap?!” Bumblebee shot the button a glance over his shoulder. Blitzwing was right, this whole thing smelled very fishy, and Bumblebee sincerely doubted that pressing the button would lead to anything good, and he certainly didn't believe that they would just press it and balloons and confetti would pop out accompanied by a big sign that read: “You won! You can now go home!” there was a much higher chance that this whole thing would lead to something terrible.

“It’s Bumblebee.” Bumblebees started, just to get things straight, “And come on! It’s a button, we don’t have to press it! We could just walk around it!” Bumblebee exclaimed.

Blitzwings' faceplate spun to Random.

“Aww, but I want to see what it does!” Disappointment was clear in his voice. “Go and press it!” He then continued in a much cheerier tone. “Come on, You know you want to!” He teased.

“Press it yourself if you want to figure out what it does!” They were both quiet for a moment before Bumblebee started talking again. “So you wanna go around it, or are we going back and taking the other path?” Blitzwings' faceplate switched back to Icy, and he looked over at Bumblebee and then back towards the button while biting his lip. Bumblebee would rather not have to walk _all_ the way back, so he gave Blitzwing a cocky smile.

“It’s okay, we can turn back now if you're _too_ scared to go around it!” Blitzwings' optics turned back to him and he scowled slightly.

“I’m not scared, I’m cautious.”

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.” Bumblebee said in a teasing tone, “I just didn’t know that the big, bad Decepticon Blitzwing was a chicken.” He said and started making chicken noises. Blitzwing seemed very confused.

“I'm a what?” Bumblebee realised then that maybe that wasn’t the right choice of words. He had forgotten that Blitzwing didn’t know as much about earth and human expressions as he did.

“I’m saying that you're a big wimp who's afraid of buttons!” Blitzwing understood that sentence well enough, and his faceplate switched to Hothead.

“I told you! I'm not afraid!” He screamed angrily, Bumblebee was a little worried about being this close to a free Blitzwing, that at the moment was stuck on Hothead. Most sane mechs probably wouldn't risk teasing him, but it just so happened that self control was a very small part of Bumblebees' processor thought process.

“Prove it!” That seemed to be the last straw.

“Fine then!" Blitzwing barked. "Lead the way, but don’t come crying to me when we end up in a trap!” Bumblebee immediately started to move forward and Blitzwing followed behind him.

They walked in silence for a few moments before slowly approaching the button. Bumblebee felt his spark pulsing faster and faster, if it was from excitement, tension, or fear he didn’t know, maybe it was a mix of all three. Then he heard the sound of a ‘click’ behind him.

He turned around again and saw that Blitzwing was standing completely still and was looking down at his peds. Bumblebee followed his optics and saw that where he had stepped, a bit of the floor had sunken in, Blitzwing lifted his ped and another click sound rang out. 

Suddenly two new walls of metal burst out of nowhere, trapping Blitzwing and Bumblebee in a small box. They were now stuck in a room without any exit doors. It was deathly quiet for a while before a mechanical noise started up, and the metal walls started moving forward towards them.

Bumblebee looked at the moving walls and frowned.

“Really? The ‘crush you between two walls’ trap? What a cliché, like, were they all out of fresh ideas, or what?” Bumblebee said without really directing it at anyone. 

Blitzwing wasted no time on talking about how overused this trope was, as he immediately put both of his servos against one of the walls and tried to dig his peds in to stop it from moving. It looked like it might work for a moment before the wall started to push Blitzwing back. Blitzwing snapped his helm towards Bumblebee, anger written all over his faceplate.

“This is all your fault!” He shouted, as he turned around and tried to stop the wall by pushing it with his back instead.

“My fault?!” Bumblebee yelled back. “It was you who stepped on that pressure plate!”

“It was you who took us down this path!” He retorted.

“Well, _you_ chose to follow me!” 

“It was you who so desperately wanted to go towards the button! If we had done it like I wanted, and been more cautious we wouldn't be in this mess!” Bumblebee opened his mouth to respond but soon closed it again. He had to admit this was _kind of_ his fault, but he refused to admit it out loud at least. He was silent for a minute trying to come up with a good response, but Blitzwing interrupted him. 

“Don’t just stand there! Do something or else we’ll both be crushed!” He roared. Bumblebee snapped out of thoughts. It was pretty much then that he realised how much slag they were both really in. 

The walls were coming closer and closer at a steady pace and Bumblebee admitted that he was starting to freak out a little bit. Just a little. 

_‘Okay, okay, just stay calm, you've seen movies where these kinds of things happen. How did they get out? Think, think, think.’_ like a light bulb switching on, he remembered and looked up. There it was! An air vent. Bumblebees' lips turned into a cocky grin.

_‘And there's my ticket to freedom!’_ His smile dropped, _‘A ticket that's way too high up…How the frag am I supposed to get up there!?’_

Bumblebee then saw that the walls were coming closer, and closer and his spark started pulsing faster. He ran up to the wall Blitzwing wasn’t trying to stop and tried to climb up it, just to notice that it was completely smooth. It was like trying to hold onto soap, his servos couldn't get a grip. He tried to climb a few more times but it looked more like he was trying to scratch the wall than trying to climb it.

“What the frag are you doing!?” He heard Blitzwing scream behind him. Bumblebee glanced at him over his shoulder. They'd soon have a hard time moving around because of the lack of space. Bumblebee looked at Blitzwing and then glanced back up towards the vent; He got an idea.

“Blitzwing!" He yelled back, trying to make his voice sound urgent. "You have to lift me up!” Bumblebee ran up to him and pointed up towards the vent. Blitzwing first looked confused before he followed Bumblebees digit and saw the vent as well. It was much too small for him to fit in it, but it looked like Bumblebee might be able to. Bumblebee continued, “That button outside is probably the off switch! If I can get into that vent I can make my way over to it and disable the trap!” Blitzwing scowled.

“How do I know you won’t just run away and leave me behind?!” He said in a dark tone. Bumblebee started fuming.

“We don’t have time for your paranoia right now! You need to trust me!” Bumblebee screamed. Blitzwing was quiet for a moment before his faceplate switched to Icy, he still looked suspicious, but it also seemed like he knew he didn't have many choices at the moment. He looked conflicted before he met Bumblebees' optics with an intense stare.

“I gave you my word yesterday, now I want yours.” Bumblebee felt like they really didn’t have time for this, but if this was what it took to get his assistance, so be it.

“You have my word that I won’t leave you to go offline!" He tried to say as quickly as possible to spare time. "Cross my spark!” Bumblebee said, making a cross over his chest.

As soon as those words left Bumblebees' mouth Blitzwing, let go of the wall and grabbed Bumblebee around his waist with both of his servos. Bumblebee was worried he was going to be crushed for a moment, but tried to stay calm.

Blitzwing raised Bumblebee up like he weighed nothing and lifted him up towards the vent. 

Bumblebee placed his servos against the vents opening and pushed until it popped open. He then grabbed the edge of the now open rectangular hole, and pulled himself into the vent shaft. It was a bit cramped and Bumblebee was forced to crawl in order to move forward.

The shaft went both forward and back the way they had come from. He immediately started to crawl forward, it felt a bit claustrophobic, but that wasn't going to stop him. He soon saw another vent opening. Bumblebee crawled past it just enough so he could put pressure on the hatch with his peds instead of his servos. 

The hatch broke and fell into the hallway below where it landed with a bang as metal met stone. Bumblebee then, dropped peds first, down into the hallway. The height of the fall and the harsh landing sent a shockwave of pain through his peds and knee joints, but it was manageable. He looked around for the red button, and thankfully, it immediately caught his optics because of its bright color.

He rushed over to it and without a second thought slammed his servo onto it, pushing it down. It made a soft ‘click’ and immediately the mechanical noise that the walls had been making stopped.

For a moment, you could hear a pin drop, then the mechanical noise started up again. 

For a second Bumblebee thought it hadn’t worked, and Blitzwing was still going to be crushed, but he then noticed the metal walls were now moving away from each other and finally they slipped back into the wall and disappeared as Blitzwing came back into view.

He walked over to Bumblebee so that they were once again 5 meters from each other.

“Let’s continue.” He said it with unexpected casualness, like he hadn’t just been in a situation fighting for his life. Bumblebee quickly calmed down as well and his spark started beating like normal again.

“Aww come on, not even a ‘thank you for saving my life’?” Bumblebee said teasingly. Blitzwing looked down at him with cold optics, took one step forward, and loomed over him, making Bumblebee just the tiniest bit nervous. 

“It was your fault that I was in danger.” Bumblebee frowned at that but didn't refute it; because what Blitzwing was saying was a little bit true. Bumblebee instead turned around and was just about to start walking again when Blitzwing continued. “But I guess you’re not completely useless.” Bumblebee glanced at him over his shoulder and rolled his optics.

“Wow.” He said in a perfectly monotone voice, “What a compliment.”

Blitzwing didn’t respond to that so they just continued walking in silence.

Bumblebee decided to start trying to be more observant with his surroundings going forward. He didn’t want to fall into another trap. 

The silence wore on for a few more moments. It felt a little awkward so Bumblebee started talking again, not worrying too much anymore about accidentally making Blitzwing angry.

“That trap back there was such a cliché.” He said without even turning around to look at Blitzwing. “That's like, one of the oldest human movie tropes ever.” Bumblebee continued. 

“I wouldn’t know” Blitzwing responded, “But I'll take your word for it.” 

“Yeah, I've watched a lot of human movies, I have movie nights with Sari all the time.” He said happily, but that feeling quickly faded and he felt a lump starting to form in his throat, he tried to swallow it down and continue the conversation as normal. “She picks out movies that she thinks I'll like and then we watch them together on Saturdays...It’s a lot of fun.” He felt the lump in his throat grow.

Bumblebee wondered what day it was. Had they been trapped here for like...six days? Or maybe seven? He wasn’t even sure anymore. If it was the seventh day then that would mean under normal circumstances, he'd be at the base, sitting on the sofa, watching movies while Sari loudly ate snacks beside them, but that felt so far away right now. Instead of sitting on the coach and having a great time, he had to walk around a maze, trying to avoid traps that may or may not offline him.

He wondered how the rest of his team were doing. How close they were to finding this place and coming to save him, and how they were doing without him.

He hoped his team was doing well without him, that they weren’t in trouble or outmatched now that he was MIA, but he also hoped that they missed him, that his absence was noticeable, that they were thinking about him as much as he was thinking about them. He knew that might be a bit selfish, but he couldn’t help it. 

He didn’t want to admit it, but he was a bit worried they had forgotten about him, or that they would never find him. He immediately tried to put the breaks on those kinds thoughts as soon as he realised how stupid they were.

_´Don’t be absurd! This is your team you're talking about! They've always had your back! They wouldn’t just throw you to the scraplets! I just have to be patient and trust them! They're my friends and I’m theirs! They will come and save me eventually! These kinds of things just take time! I just have to wait.’_ He thought with confidence. 

He shot a glance over his shoulder and saw that Blitzwing was still following him, seeing him sparked a new train of thought.

Bumblebee was nearly 100% sure his team was out looking for him, but he had no idea if the Decepticons had gotten involved, or if they were out looking for Blitzwing.

He took a few more steps before speaking up.

“Do you think they're looking for you?” He asked carefully, as he wasn’t sure it was a good idea to actually bring this up to Blitzwing.

“Who?” 

“Your team. Do you think they're out there looking for you? Or trying to save you?” Blitzwing was noticeably quiet for a moment before he responded.

“That depends.” That caught Bumblebees interest. He turned around so he was now walking backwards. This way he could see Blitzwings' faceplate.

“Depends on what?” He asked curiously.

“It depends on if they know I have been captured by a human or not.” He said, like that would explain it, Bumblebee tilted his helm to one side.

“Why would that matter?” Blitzwing rolled his optics.

“Being captured by a human is a disgrace, if I can’t even save myself from one measly human then I do not deserve to be called a Decepticon.” Bumblebee looked at him befuddled. 

“But aren’t they like your teammates? Aren’t you supposed to help each other?” 

“Only if the situation calls for it, otherwise we are on our own, and work mostly for our own interest.” he explained, “And if someone were to come and save me it would probably be because they wanted me to be indebted to them, or Megatron called for it.” Bumblebee just gawked at him for a moment and said nothing. He was truly shocked and befuddled by Blitzwings' statement. 

To Bumblebee, when he thought of his team, he thought of strong connections. He knew that his team, no matter what stupid thing he did or what mess he got into, would always have his back. They might lecture him or mock him for it later but they would still help him. 

But for Blitzwing it sounded like his team was nothing more than people he was _forced_ to work with. There seemed to be no warmth between him and the rest of the Decepticons, no trust or feelings of friendship, for him, there really was an “I” in team. 

Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge when he noticed that Bumblebee had been staring at him for a while without saying anything.

“Is something amiss?” Bumblebee snapped out of his thoughts.

“No just thinking.” He started. “Do you cons, ever do anything for each other just because you're friends or something?” Blitzwings' faceplate switched back to Random and he burst out laughing.

“Because we are friends?!” He let out another cackle “That's a good one!” He wiped away a non- existent tear. “Decepticons don’t often have “friends” He said, whilst making air quotes. “We have people who work together, sure, but rarely do they have an Autobot level of friendship. Like the, ‘I would go offline for you’ kind of way” He chuckled. “And even if we had friends, who would want to befriend the ‘crazy triple changer freak’?!” He laughed again, but Bumblebee couldn't help but feel the tiniest bit bad for him. He and the other Autobots often referred to him in a similar way, 'freak', 'insane', 'unhinged' but It was a bit fragged up to think he was calling _himself_ a ‘crazy triple changing freak’. Like it was some kind of self deprecating joke.

“Isn’t, like Lugnut your friend?” They usually worked together, Bumblebee thought, so they must have some kind of relationship. Blitzwing let out another laugh before his faceplate turned back to Icy.

"We can work together and help each other out, but if I were in trouble and Megatron told him not to help me, Lugnut would not have any second thoughts about leaving me behind, And if he does anything for me, it is because he believes it will somehow please Megatron.” Blitzwing noticed Bumblebees' surprised expression. “I guess that you don’t have to worry that your teammates might leave you behind because it was a human that captured you?”

“No.” Bumblebee quickly answered. “My team would never do that to me! They wouldn’t leave me behind, or decide to not save me because I was captured by a human! They would try to save me no matter what!” Bumblebee went quiet again. 

He had a hard time believing that someone could care so little for a person they worked with; especially considering how often Blitzwing and Lugnut were together. Bumblebee thought that if you were partners like that, you would have grown some sort of fondness for each other, like for example he didn't always like working with Ratchet, but he still cared about him. That thought sent another wave of homesickness through Bumblebee, but he pushed it down.

If what Blitzwing was saying was true, then the cons didn't seem to care much for each other. Didn’t Blitzwing care about anyone? Didn’t anyone care about him for a selfless reason? Because right now it sounded a lot like it was pretty much him against the world.

“Has there never been anyone you could consider a friend? Like none at all? No one you trusted and cared about, or trusted and cared about you?” Blitzwing shut his mouth and his faceplate got a weird expression for a moment that Bumblebee couldn’t put a digit on. Before Bumblebee got a chance to figure what that expression was, Blitzwing shot him a glare and his faceplate switched to Hothead. That was when Bumblebee knew he had accidentally stepped into a metaphorical wasp nest.

“That’s none of your business.” He snarled. The light tone he had been using a second ago was completely gone and replaced by poison. It made Bumblebee quicken his steps a bit so there was a bit more distance between them.

“It was just a question. You don’t have to get all agro.” Blitzwings' scowl deepened and he bared his denta.

“I won't discuss it further.” Bumblebee tilted his helm to the side. He knew that he had hit some kind of nerve, but his curiosity was too strong.

“Why not?”

“That doesn't concern you!” Blitzwing barked. His frame started to shake slightly and his servos turned into fists at his side. Bumblebee rolled his optics, ignoring the warning signs.

“Oh come on! Can’t you give me a hint or some-” Bumblebee shut up immediately when Blitzwing suddenly turned and punched the wall. The glass, once again, splintered into a spider web pattern. 

They both had stopped walking and the atmosphere got deathly quiet, as if someone had suddenly pressed the mute button. The silence was only broken when Blitzwing started speaking again.

“Drop, It.” His voice was low and threatening, it somehow made it even worse than if he had shouted it. The sentence was like one last warning spoken like a demand. This was Blitzwings' way of saying ‘drop it now, or else’. 

This was also a clear wake up call for Bumblebee to realise who he was actually talking to. He wasn't talking to just anybot, this was Blitzwing, a Decepticon, an enemy. A mech that could offline him in a blink of an optic.

Bumblebee tried to play it cool, so he lifted his servos up defensively.

“Okay, okay, I got it, I’m dropping it.” After that he turned around and looked forward. He listened closely so he could hear Blitzwings' approach in case he tried to attack him now that his back was turned, but he heard nothing of the sort, so they just continued walking forward in complete silence. 

They just kept walking and walking, sometimes they were forced to make a turn only to realise it led to a dead end, and then were forced to turn around and retrace their steps.

It was difficult to tell how much time had gone by, but it felt like hours. Bumblebee started to feel like he was going mad. Everything looked the same, he _knew_ he wasn't going around in circles because he still kept to the right side of the wall, but it sure felt like it. It didn’t help that the mirrored walls made everything look a bit trippy. It felt like he was in one of those dreams where you run and run, but never get anywhere, and It was starting to get really annoying. 

It also didn’t help that Bumblebee had stopped talking, and it didn't look like Blitzwing would start a conversation any time soon. He also had been on Hothead for a while now, and he still seemed to be scowling.

Bumblebee realised then that he must have really hit some kind of nerve, and he actually felt a little bad. He shouldn’t have pushed the subject after Blitzwing had made it clear he was unwilling to discuss it further, but that didn’t excuse his behaviour, so Bumblebee was between saying sorry, and keeping quiet because Blitzwing had screamed and threatened him. 

They took another right turn and walked down a long corridor. Bumblebee was deep in thought and was just looking straight ahead without really paying attention to his surroundings.

He suddenly felt his ped catch something and nearly fell, he stumbled for a bit, but was able to get back his balance and stood still for a moment, breathing a sigh of relief just happy with not falling flat onto the hard ground. 

_‘What was-’_ He never got to finish that thought, because in the very next moment he felt something grab him from behind. 

He flew backwards and he actually felt his peds leave the ground. He looked back to see what had grabbed him and saw Blitzwings' arm. 

Blitzwing, without any problem, held Bumblebee under his arms and took a few quick steps backwards. 

Bumblebees spark started racing and he felt his energion start to pump faster inside his frame. As soon as he registered that he was being held under Blitzwings' arm, basically trapped and at his mercy, he panicked.

He started to flail around like a bird flapping its wings, trying to escape from the maw of a predator, he kicked Blitzwing as best he could with his legs, landing some hits on his back, but Blitzwing didn’t look bothered by it. Bumblebee, in desperation, started scratching Blitzwings arm as best as he could and was also trying to pry himself free whilst screaming bloody murder. 

None of his attempts to escape seemed to go anywhere. Blitzwing looked more annoyed than anything, which was definitely not comforting for Bumblebee.

His mind was in absolute chaos, and only one clear thought repeated in his mind, over and over again, drowning out all his critical thinking.

_‘He’s going to offline me, he’s going to offline me, he’s going to offline me, he’s-’_

“Let go! I didn’t do anything to you! Let me go, you scrap heap!” He screamed, succeeding with sounding more angry than scared. 

“Stop thrashing!” Blitzwing screamed back, which didn’t calm Bumblebee down in the slightest. “You idiot, you stepped-” He was quickly cut off when Bumblebee rammed his elbow, with all his might, into Blitzwings' stomach. 

Blitzwing let out a grunt of pain, and immediately let go of Bumblebee who fell to the floor with a thud. Blitzwing then fell down to one knee, putting a servo over his stomach, as he groaned.

Bumblebee flew up to his peds, and was just about to move forwards, when a hole in the wall opened and a giant pendulum swung out and crashed into the opposite wall at a high speed.

Bumblebee took a few surprised steps backwards, stumbled, and fell back on his aft.

He just stared at the giant ball and at the wall it had smashed into. The wall was crushed in, and it looked like it had actually been able to break at least one layer of the bulletproof glass.

The “door” that the flail had come out of closed again, leaving the giant ball behind.

Bumblebee looked at the floor and saw that a thin line of string had been snapped in half, and he realised that was what he had tripped on.

Bumblebee just stared at the ball, the tripwire, and the smashed glass as it slowly dawned on him. 

If Blitzwing hadn’t pulled him out of the way, he would have been hit by that wrecking ball. Bumblebee looked back at the bulletproof glass and how bad it looked after the hit. ‘ _That could have been me’_ And that gave way to another, nearly unfathomable thought.

_'Blitzwing saved my life.’_

Bumblebees optics turned back to Blitzwing who was slowly standing up again.

Bumblebee didn’t know what to do, or what to say, Blitzwing had just pulled him out of danger and Bumblebee had thanked him with an elbow to the stomach. He actually felt a little embarrassed.

Bumblebee got up again and met Blitzwings' optics.

“I, Uhhhh…” Bumblebee tried to come up with something to say but his mind came up blank. 

Blitzwing stood up completely straight and looked down at him. They, at the moment, were standing right beside each other. 

Quickly, Blitzwing lifted one of his servos and smacked Bumblebee in the back of his helm, it stung a bit, but it wasn't very painful, Bumblebee was a little bit tempted to tell him that Ratchet could do worse, but he finally decided that now might not be the best time.

“Ow! What the pit Blitzbrain?!” He shouted instead, and rubbed the back of his helm. Blitzwings' faceplate switched to Random.

“Whoops! My servo slipped!” He said and let out a loud cackle. 

Bumblebee glowered at him, but chose to let it go.

Blitzwing moved forward and was able to push the pendulum enough to give them just enough space to get past it, then the both of them continued forwards, Bumblebee taking the lead once more.

They walked for a few more minutes before Bumblebee noticed that Blitzwings' footsteps were starting to slow, and it almost sounded like he was dragging his peds. Bumblebee shot a glance over his shoulder at Blitzwing, and what he saw was nothing but worrisome. 

Blitzwing was holding onto the wall with one servo, leaning hard on it, and with his other servo he was holding his stomach. He had buckled slightly forward and it looked like he was gritting his denta. His venting was heavy and uneven, and it looked like he was expending a lot of energy just to put one ped in front of the other. 

Bumblebee started getting worried. He had hit him in the stomach sure, but it shouldn’t have hurt that much, right?

Bumblebee shook his helm. _‘Maybe he’s just tired or something. If he was actually hurt he would say something, right?’_ Bumblebees' mind was pulled back to Blitzwings' wrist injury. ‘ _He must have known he was hurting himself on those cuffs, he had to have felt it, but he was really good at not making a fuss about it. What if he's doing something similar now?’_

Bumblebee glanced back at him and saw his bad posture. ‘ _I’ll give him some time, maybe he’ll get better, it’s not my job to sparklingsit him.’_

They walked for another five minutes, and to Bumblebees' concern, Blitzwing didn't seem to get any better. He kept going forward even while still clearly in pain. And despite that it looked like he was in so much agony so didn’t he let out even a grunt or started nagging, he just sucked it up and continued forward. For some reason that felt wrong to Bumblebee.

Bumblebee knew that if it was himself that was in pain, he would at least make some fuss about it, but seeing Blitzwing try his best to suffer in silence felt...unnatural. 

Finally Bumblebee couldn't take it anymore. He stopped completely and turned around to face Blitzwing.

“Hey!” Blitzwing looked down at him and stopped as well.“Are you...Okay?” He asked slowly, he wasn’t sure how Blitzwing would respond to a question of concern.

Blitzwing pulled his servo away from his stomach and stood straight. A quiet hiss of pain escaped his mouth as he straightened his back and let go of the wall, he almost looked alright but, Bumblebee noticed that his whole frame was ever so slightly trembling, like he was barely able to keep his composure, Blitzwings' faceplate switched to Icy and he nodded.

“I’m fine, let’s continue.” His voice was tight, Like he was saying everything between gritted denta; Bumblebee didn’t feel very convinced. 

“Are you sure? You look like you’re in pain.” Blitzwings' faceplate switched to Hothead.

“I'm fine.” he hissed. “My tank is just a bit unsettled, it will pass.” He continued to move forward and tried to act like it wasn’t bothering him. He took two more steps before he needed to put his servo on the wall again, and he started to slouch a bit. 

Bumblebee could see how the arm he had put on the wall to keep himself steady was trembling, probably meaning he was putting a lot of weight on it. His other servo had also returned to being held over his fuel tank. Bumblebee had started to doubt that Blitzwing was actually going to tell him that he wasn't feeling well. 

Bumblebee thought for a bit, trying to figure out what he could do before an idea hit him. He sat down on the floor and let out an over exaggerated sigh of exhaustion.

“Primus I’m _tired_! My peds are killing me!” He said, grabbing one of his peds and gently massaging it. “Can't we take a break?” Bumblebee said, while sneaking a glance up at Blitzwing. Blitzwing looked down at him for a moment, Bumblebee was pretty sure Blitzwing could see through his ruse, but this way Blitzwing didn’t have to be the one to ask for a break. So hopefully he would be more willing to accept it, if it looked like Bumblebee was the one that needed it. Blitzwing didn't need to reveal he was any worse for wear this way, he just had to play along.

Blitzwing was quiet for a long moment, studying the smaller bot before him, it looked like he was thinking deeply, but finally he put his back to the wall and slid down to the floor, letting out a heavy sigh of relief as his breathing slowly returned to normal.

“Sure, but just a short one." He said in an irritated tone, clearly angry over this whole situation.

Bumblebee saw that his digits were digging into his abdomen, and that he was still gritting his dente. He had to be in a lot of pain, even as much as he tried to hide it, he was still clearly unwell. Blitzwing noticed Bumblebees searching optics and scowled.

“What are you looking at?!” He barked. Bumblebee rolled his optics and turned his sight to the floor and started thinking. ‘ _Why is he in so much pain? It couldn't have been from my elbow strike alone, he's taken hits way worse in the past and been just fine. Does he have a hidden wound or something? Or is this some kind of thing he had from before he even got stuck here?’_ Bumblebee looked down the hallway they had been walking in, Bumblebee heard his tank rumble, and it was about that time he realised how hungry he was. 

They must have been in here for a couple of hours now at least, without fuel or an end in sight, they had to have been in this maze longer than what a normal arena fights normally took, so their usual feeding time must have been a while ago.

‘I hope there's not much left.’ Bumblebee thought, ‘I could really go for some oil right...now...wait a second.’ Bumblebee tried to think back, they had been forced to be contestants in this show for some time now, and they only ever got oil if they went back to the cell willingly, Blitzwing had refused every time, so that would mean… Bumblebee looked over at Blitzwing again. Blitzwing noticed him staring.

“What?!”He yelled. Bumblebee nearly lost the drive to ask the question, but his want for an answers was too strong.

“When was the last time you refueled?” Blitzwing looked a bit taken aback, but quickly hissed a response.

“Why does that matter to you?” Bumblebee shrugged.

“Just curious, because if you haven’t refueled since before we started here, wouldn’t that mean you would basically be starving right now?” Bumblebee didn't know how he hadn't realised this before now.

Blitzwings' scowl deepend. “Mind your own business!” 

“ _Geez,_ I’m sorry for asking!” Bumblebee crossed his arms. 

“And don’t you have anything better to do than just sit there and gawk at me?” Blitzwing barked, it looked like his pain had lessened enough to focus on being angry instead, which Bumblebee guessed was an improvement.

“So what?” Bumblebee huffed back, “I can’t look or talk?! I guess I'll just shut off my audio receptors as well then?! At least then I don’t have to listen to your annoying voice!” 

“ _My_ annoying voice?!” He yelled back. “It’s _you_ that's constantly trying to talk to _me_! If you dislike my voice so much then stop talking to me!”

“Fine then, I will!” Bumblebee screamed back.

“Fine!”

“Great”

“Absolutely perfect!” 

“The best idea you've had so far!” then both of them turned their helms in opposite directions so they wouldn't have to look at each other. 

Bumblebee looked at himself in the reflection of the mirror. He thought about how he would have looked if that ball had actually crashed into him, his paint would have probably been slagged he thought, and let out a quiet chuckle. 

Bumblebee didn’t want to admit it, but he actually felt bad for elbowing Blitzwing. He didn’t blame himself for doing it though, he had been grabbed by an enemy, _of course_ he was going to freak out! But even if his actions made sense, that didn’t stop him from feeling at least, a little bad about it; especially if Blitzwings' tank was already causing him pain.

They were silent for a few more moments before Bumblebee finally spoke up, even though he'd said he would stop talking.

“I'm sorry for freaking out and elbowing you, You just...surprised me” The comment echoed out, and then the hallway was quiet again. Bumblebee thought his comment had fallen on deaf audio receptors, but after a moment Blitzwings' faceplate spun to Random.

“Did you honestly believe such a puny attack would hurt me?! I hardly even felt it!” He said, and started laughing.

“I panicked, okay!” Bumblebee defended himself, “You should have warned me!” 

“I didn’t really have much time.” Blitzwing said with a smile,”I couldn’t be like, ‘Hey you activated a trap! So now I’m going to pick you up and move you out of danger, don’t freak out okay.’ You would have been turned into sheet metal before I could finish explaining!” He said and let out another laugh. Bumblebee crossed his arms over his chest.

“Just give me a heads up next time or something. ” He hissed. Blitzwing didn’t respond and the conversation died down again.

They just sat there for a while, deciding to take a breather. It felt nice to take a break after all the walking. 

Bumblebee saw from the corner of his optic that Blitzwing was messing with the bandages on one of his wrists. It looked like the knot Bumblebee had tied had come undone, possibly by itself, or maybe it was because Bumblebee had accidentally scratched it open during his moment of hysteria.

He watched Blitzwing as he tried to reknot it with one servo, it didn't look to be going well. After a few failed attempts, his faceplate switched to Hothead and he he tried, now in a more aggressive manner to do it, which still failed. 

Bumblebee couldn’t help but smile, it was just too funny to see Blitzwing struggling to do a good knot whilst he slowly got angrier and angrier, and started muttering curses under his breath.

Bumblebee finally couldn’t stay quiet any longer.

“You, doing okay there?” He said cheekily, trying to contain a laugh. Blitzwing looked up at him with a scowl.

“It’s going fine.” He muttered and went back to work. Bumblebee watched him fumble with the bandages a few more moments before he spoke up again.

“Do you want me to re-tie it?” He asked.

It looked like Blitzwing was about to say something, but then closed his mouth again. He stared at the bandages for a long time, it looked like he was thinking about it before he switched to Icy with a sigh.

“Yes.” Bumblebee was honestly surprised, he got up from his sitting position and walked over to him. He should have probably been concerned, or at the very least, wary about approaching Blitzwing, but this time, he wasn't. Somehow he just knew that Blitzwing wasn't going to hurt him, Maybe it was because Blitzwing had saved his life, or maybe he was just getting used to being around him, but no matter the reason, he wasn't worried. 

“Okay, I'll take a look, Let me see your wrist.” Blitzwing slowly put out his arm towards Bumblebee so he could try his luck. Bumblebee in a few seconds was able to re-tie the knot without any problems. “Ta-da!” He said proudly. “Good as new!” 

Blitzwing pulled his arm back, inspected the knot, and then made a nod in satisfaction. He kept looking at it for a bit before his optics lifted from the bandage and he looked at Bumblebee.

“Thank you.” He said it quickly, like he just wanted it over with. Bumblebee was surprised, he hadn't expected to hear words of gratitude coming from Blitzwing, they sounded so unfamiliar coming from him even if he had already heard it once before. 

“No sweat!” He responded with a big grin, he was unsure if Blitzwing would understand the human saying but he seemed to get the point. Blitzwing muttered something, but it was too quiet for Bumblebee to make out.

It was about that time that they heard a sound coming from the path behind them.

Bumblebee and Blitzwing both turned their helms towards the noise, trying to see what it was, but at the moment they couldn't see anything.

Blitzwing slowly got up and his monocle started to zoom in. 

“See anything?” Bumblebee asked and looked at the bigger mech. Blitzwing shook his helm.

“No.” But it was then that it appeared. From around the corner came a giant stone ball rolling right towards them.

Both of them just looked at it dumbfounded for a minute, before Bumblebee let out an annoyed sigh.

“Come on!” He shouted, before in the blink of an eye he transformed into his alt mode and put the pedal to the metal. Blitzwing who still didn’t have access to his altmodes, and even if he did, probably wouldn't have enough space, was forced to run.

They both turned around and started moving in the opposite direction as quickly as possible. 

They went down a path with lots of turns, and it felt like they were going in zig zags, Bumblebee was very close to accidentally driving into the walls several times. Blitzwing didn’t have the same problem, but he was generally much slower than Bumblebee in his alt mode; but he was still able to run ahead of the trap. 

Bumblebee took another sharp left turn and to his surprise, saw a bright light at the end of the hallway. He continued driving forward and, soon he was out of the hallway. He looked around and saw that he was right outside of his cell. 

This really confused Bumblebee, He didn’t remember seeing two hallways. 

He quickly transformed, and by looking to his right he saw the original opening, the one they had entered, it was about that time that he realised there must have been a closed wall here, and Master Disaster must have opened it while they'd been walking around in the maze.

Bumblebee wasn't alone with his thoughts for too long though, as soon enough, Blitzwing burst out of the opening and a wall went down from the ceiling, snapping the tunnel shut.

Blitzwing was venting heavily, he looked over his shoulder and saw that the wall had been sealed. After a moment they both heard a loud ‘bang!’ as the stone ball hit the wall.

As soon as Blitzwing had confirmation that the danger was over, he could no longer remain standing and his legs buckled. Holding tightly onto his knees, he tried to stand up, his digits digging deep grooves into his plating.He was clenching his denta and was closing his optics tightly. Soon he moved one of his servos from his knees and he held it over his abdomen instead and continued trying to catch his breath. 

Soon a familiar voice rang out.

“Great job!” Master Disaster said, seeming ecstatic . Bumblebee looked around but still didn't see him, then his optics returned to the cell, and there he was on the other side of the bars holding a microphone in one hand and the controller in the other. “What an amazing show! I was at the edge of my seat the whole time! Great work from both of you! So, will you continue to impress me? Or, will this end in the normal boring way with you choosing to be stubborn?”

Blitzwing opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but he seemed unable to form words, as he was too preoccupied with venting to talk. He instead just shook his helm firmly and didn’t move a piston. 

It took a worrisomely long time for Blitzwing to get back his composure, and return to normal. And once he did, Master Disaster pulled out the controller and forced him back into the cell. Bumblebee as usual, just walked in by his own accord.

After some time, the feeder bot came and dropped off a single barrel of oil, and as usual Bumblebee got to recharge with a full tank, and Blitzwing did not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Blitzwing/Bumblebee: RIP to Blurr but we're different


	8. Chapter 8

Blitzwing woke up because of an overwhelming agony in his fuel tank. He gritted his dente so hard he felt as if they might crack. It felt like someone had punched him so hard all the air had left his vents and he was no longer able to breathe properly.

A message popped up in his HUD, warning him that his fuel levels were critical and that If he didn’t do something about it soon there could be dire consequences. He glared at the message.

_‘There's nothing I can do; so just give it up’_ He thought as he angrily deleted the message.

He felt terribly light headed and had an awful pulsing migraine that refused to be ignored, and despite the fact that he had recharged a little over a megacycle was completely exhausted. He was distracted from his own problems though, when he heard a rattling noise from the other side of the cell.

He lifted his helm, and Primus even that was a chore. His helm felt heavier; like it had gained extra weight during the night. His optics scanned the room for the source of the unfamiliar noise, before finally landing on the only other occupant of the cell.

Bumblebee was laying on his side with his back pressed against the wall. He had curled up into a ball, his arms wrapped tightly around his legs, and his expression was one of discomfort, unease and dissatisfaction. He was still recharging as far as Blitzwing could tell and he was shaking like a leaf. 

Blitzwing looked at the minbot in confusion, not understanding why he was shaking so much; before comprehension dawned on him. 

He took in a deep vent and as he let it out he could clearly see the air turning to mist. It was cold, that was why he was shaking. Blitzwings' frame, since his operation, ran unnaturally warm so he often didn't notice cold temperatures. His plating was also fairly thick so it was difficult for the cold to actually seep through to his protoform, but Bumblebee was a mech with an altmode built for speed. He wasn't created to handle such low temperatures, so it wasn't any wonder that he would be affected by the cold.

Blitzwing almost pitied him, Bumblebee was tiny but he looked especially small now that he was curled up so tight trying to preserve heat. Blitzwing almost couldn't believe that he could look any smaller. Bumblebee was already so tiny that he could probably carry him around with one servo.

That thought brought back memories from yesterday. How Blitzwing had easily grabbed him around the waist and put him under his arm, and how Bumblebee had then freaked out and the whole thing had lead to him getting an elbow to the stomach. 

He would never admit it, but it had hurt. Bumblebee had gotten him right in the fuel tank and it had made the pain that he was already feeling there intensify. He knew that he should probably be furious that Bumblebee had elbowed him yesterday, but that was the thing, he wasn’t; not even the tiniest bit.

He wasn't angry at Bumblebee for hitting him, and even if he didn't admit to it, he realised that it wasn't entirely Bumblebees' fault. He had startled the autobot by picking him up so suddenly, and he didn't fault Bumblebee for trying to defend himself. It was a natural reaction of self preservation, and Blitzwing couldn’t be mad at him for having it. 

Blitzwing was a Decepticon that was almost three times bigger than him. He had been threatening Bumblebee just before the trap had been activated, and then he had grabbed him without any warning. Why wouldn’t the minibot assume it was some sort of attack? If Blitzwing had been in his place he more than likely would have reacted the same way.

What Blitzwing never would have done though was apologize for his actions. It was justified in Blitzwings' opinion, but Bumblebee had later said that he was sorry. Blitzwing couldn't understand why he had bothered to say anything. Bumblebee must have known that what he had done was justified, for pits sake, they were enemies, hurting each other was just part of the job, and It usually was their job, but this whole Tv-show thing had put them at an odd dynamic. He would gain nothing by offlining or intentionally hurting Bumblebee, the opposite was true in fact, so for the moment it looked like keeping the Autobot alive would be more beneficial to him.

What would he even gain from hurting Bumblebee? Nothing. It wouldn't get him any closer to escaping that was for sure, and he couldn't bring him back (offlined or alive) to Megatron for some extra credit and the ability to shove it in Lugnuts stupid faceplate. He however had already gained quite a bit by Bumblebee being alive. He had fixed the bandages for him and he had helped him escape from that wall death trap, so it seemed at the very least that Bumblebee wasn't going to be a danger to him.

He sighed.

Blitzwing was nearly afraid to admit it, but it felt like he didn’t have to be as suspicious of him. Bumblebee had been given a great chance to let him offline yesterday. All he would have had to do, was not to press the button, but he had, and he had saved him. Also, after he had elbowed him he apologised, he had also done the same thing after he had been too rough while cleaning his wounds; So at least it seemed like he didn't actually want to hurt him.

Blitzwing shook his helm. This whole thing was such a mess that he didn't even know what to think anymore. He didn't exactly trust the minbot, but he also wasn't suspicious of him either. He looked back over at Bumblebee. He was still shivering from the cold, and he had rolled over so he was laying with his back towards Blitzwing instead. Blitzwing just continued to look at him as he thought.

He didn’t know why but being around the minibot felt...weird? He didn’t have a better way to describe it. He felt weird, but not necessarily bad.

His conversations with the minibot were very different from what he was accustomed to. They teased each other, Bumblebee told him stories, they discussed things, they argued, they talked to each other without any malice. Such things were very uncommon amongst the Decepticons. It was strange, but Blitzwing couldn't say he disliked it.

He sighed again and shook his helm. No he couldn't think like that. They were enemies. He decided to chalk those thoughts up to his critically low fuel levels and his poor recharging..

Blitzwing closed his optics, and tried to force himself into recharge, but his tank wouldn’t let him. It felt like it was twisting inside his frame sending out sharp pulses of pain over and over. He soon realised that recharging was off the table and he instead tried to prepare himself for a long night of agony.

He didn’t know how much time had actually gone by when the room decided to shake Bumblebee awake. 

But this morning, unlike the others so wasn't Bumblebee in any hurry to get up and run into the arena. He awoke slowly, first lifting his arms above his helm and stretching his arms before he let out a yawn and rubbed the tiredness out of his optics. 

Blitzwings felt his faceplate switched to Random.

“Good morning!” He giggled. Bumblebee turned his optics to him.

“If it even is morning," Bumblebee responded tiredly, "We still don't have a way to know what time it is." The wall finally opened up all the way and Bumblebee got up and walked out into the arena. Soon thereafter so did Blitzwings’ shackles release, and he was free to follow.

Blitzwing tried to get up as usual but was immediately punished for it when his frame screamed in agony. Screaming at him to stop, screaming at him to rest, to spare what little energy he had left. But he knew he had no choice though, he had to keep going. He finally forced himself to his peds and walked out into the arena. 

He was exhausted, he wanted to sit down and do nothing, but he knew that wasn't an option. He was going to fight the robots, he was going to refuse to return to the cell on his own again and he would go hungry for one more day. 

The day began like any other in this wretched place. 

It was going well so far, he was able to keep the robots off of him despite how ill he was feeling. 

_‘Just keep fighting, it will be over soon, and then I'll be allowed to go back to the cell and rest’_ He couldn’t _believe_ that being stuck in that cramped cell was starting to look appealing. 

Blitzwing continued fighting offensively until there were only two robots left standing.

He was able to kick one of them hard enough that it crashed into the iron bars that encircled the arena, and he watched as it got electrocuted, he then saw the other one approaching out of the corner of his optic, approaching him from a bit away with a sword. Blitzwing turned quickly to meet it, and that was when he felt it.

The sudden turn made Blitzwing feel terribly dizzy. It seemed to come on without any pre warning or time for preparation, like it had been lurking in the shadows and suddenly had popped up and grabbed a hold of him. The whole arena seemed to be spinning faster and faster before his optics, and as he tried desperately to regain his balance he stumbled a bit. It felt like he was back on the nemesis, standing on the bridge as the ship was thrown about by an ion storm. 

He tried to focus, but his vision started to become blurred, and black spots appeared in his field of vision. All sounds slowly faded out and a sharp ringing started up in his audio receptors like an alarm without any pause.

It felt like he was going to purge despite that he knew he had pretty much nothing left in his tank to actually throw up.

Suddenly he was on his back on the sandy floor of the arena and was staring up at the ceiling, the bright light from the lamps piercing his optics. He knew he hadn't laid down so he guessed he'd fallen, but he couldn’t remember it.

He knew that he needed to get back up, that lying down and taking a rest right now was the worst time possible, but he felt too weak and couldn’t get his frame to do what he wanted.

He saw something appear above him. It was probably the robot. He couldn't be sure though, as black spots danced across his vision like clouds blocking out the sky. 

He tried to move, but it felt as if his frame was paralysed and only his processor remained functional. 

He saw the robot approach. Probably aiming to get a good strike while he was down. He had to get up or else he would go offline! He tried to force his frame into motion,as he had done all the other times, but this time he just couldn’t. His frame had finally betrayed him, taking its revenge on him for his poor maintenance of it.

An error message appeared on his HUD. He couldn’t read it, it was too blurry and he felt as if his processor was swimming. Blitzwing didn't need to read it though to know that his fuel problem had just become critical. 

He was barely able to see that the robot had started swinging its sword down behind all the darks spots in his vision. It would get a direct hit, there was no way it was going to miss and there was nothing Blitzwing could do about it.

Suddenly a yellow blurr smashed into it and both disappeared out of his view completely.

It took a few moments, and Blitzwing was unsure how long, seconds? Minutes? But suddenly in the midst of the black fog two blue, glowing circles appeared. It was a nice shade of blue. Blitzwing thought. It reminded him of the sky when he was flying, it made him feel oddly calm. 

He suddenly heard something beyond the ringing in his audio receptors, but it was muffled like he was under water. He looked at the blue lights as the black slowly cleared from his vision. Blitzwing was finally able to focus, and he realised that the blue light was coming Bumblebees' concerned optics. Slowly the sounds of the arena made its way back to him and he heard Bumblebees' voice.

“Blitzwing? Can you hear me? Hello?” Bumblebee snapped his digits in front of his face and Blitzwing flinched. Bumblebee seemed relieved that Blitzwing had finally given a reaction. “You okay?” Bumblebee prompted. 

Blitzwing didn’t respond. He felt his strength slowly starting to return to him. He gave the HUD message a glance. It, of course, warned him about very low fuel levels so he just deleted it and slowly started to sit up. Bumblebee took a few steps away to give him some space.

He blinked a few times and looked around the arena. All the robots had been dealt with so he guessed he didn’t have to be worried about getting attacked again today.

He had a splitting headache and his tank felt awful, but it could have been worse, and he had gotten pretty used to the pain at this point.

Blitzwing tried to stand up, or at least get up on one knee, but he immediately lost his balance and had to sit down again.

Bumblebee watched him struggle with concerned optics. He finally stretched out a servo, offering to help him up. 

Blitzwing saw it, bared his denta and slapped it away, he didn’t need his pity. The slap didn't have any strength behind it though, so it was more of a light push than a slap, but Bumblebee pulled his servo back either way. He rolled his optics and let out an annoyed huff, but that look of worry never really left his optics. 

Blitzwing once again tried to stand up and this time he actually made it all the way into a standing position. He felt like a house of cards that was just one breeze away from falling, but he was standing. 

“Oh good, you're not dead yet!” He heard come out of the speakers. Blitzwing tried his best to glare up towards the balcony at Master Disaster. “So, are you gonna make this easy and just walk into your cell?” Blitzwing didn’t move an inch. He just stared at Master Disaster with hate in his optics. He wanted to yell something at him, something witty, or an insult or maybe a threat, anything, but he just didn’t have the energy for it anymore. 

Master Disaster sighed and held up the controller, forcing Blitzwing to walk back to the cell and be restrained again. The whole time he was forced to walk back he could feel Bumblebees' optics on him. Bumblebee, as usual just walked back on his own accord. 

* * *

Soon, the feeder bot came and gave Bumblebees his ration of oil. Bumblebee looked down into the barrel. It was completely full of oil, enough to keep him satisfied for the rest of the day. He looked at it in silence for a couple of minutes, before he turned his sight to Blitzwing.

He was just sitting there at the other side of the cell, just staring at the floor. He was not even fighting his chains, he was just sitting there, completely stationary. 

Bumblebee frowned and he felt anger start to burn inside of him. 

He had just finished fighting his own robots when he had heard a loud thud. When he had turned around he saw Blitzwing laying on the floor about to get stabbed, it didn’t take a genius to know that Blitzwing had passed out and Bumblebee knew exactly why. His servos tightened their grip around the barrel.

He hadn’t refuelled for several days now, because like the stubborn fragger that he was, he refused to walk into their cell voluntarily. In the beginning Bumblebee had been fine with Blitzwing refusing to be compliant and not getting any oil. It wasn't Bumblebee’s job to watch out for him, but something had changed. Blitzwing stubbornness was starting to become a real problem.

If he continued down the road he was on right now he was going to go offline, and that really pissed Bumblebee off for several reasons. The more he thought about this whole thing, the angrier he got until he finally couldn’t take it anymore. He set the oil barrel on the floor with a thunk; before he exploded at Blitzwing. 

“Are you out of your fragging mind?!” He screamed without any warning. Blitzwing forced his helm up so he could look at him and raised an optic ridge. Bumblebee could now look directly into his optics, and what he saw just made him angrier.

His optics lacked the usual energy and the chilling stare he used to have was gone, right now he just looked tired. Like he was completely out of energy. The dull look they had for some reason especially slagged him off.

Bumblebee angrily pointed a digit at him. “If you don’t refuel soon, you'll go offline! Do you get that?!” Blitzwing expression hardened.

“You want me to take orders from a human? I think I would _rather_ go offline.” Bumblebee was fuming. He stamped his ped on the floor in anger.

“So you'd rather sacrifice your life, and a chance to escape, then to have your pride take a hit?! Thats idiotic!” Blitzwing scowled a bit but Bumblebee continued, not giving Blitzwing a chance to form a rebuttal. “You could have gone offline out there! If your pride is more important than your life you need to get your priorities straight! Living is way more important than your stupid pride!” Blitzwings' voice was cold when he replied.

“That human said that this whole thing is being broadcasted, correct?” Bumblebee nodded.

“Then there is a chance that Megatron will find out about this. That would mean that he will not only find out that I, a Decepticon was bested by a human but then he would also see me taking orders from one. That’s the lowest and most pathetic display I can imagine a Decepticon making.” 

Bumblebee was quiet for a moment. He wanted to make a retort but he didn’t actually know a whole lot about Decepticons customs, _except that apparently they were stupid_. He wanted to tell Blitzwing just that, but he was pretty sure that it wouldn't help change Blitzwings mind. He needed something better. He thought for a moment before speaking up.

“Would Megatron really think that starving was a better choice than listening to a human? Wouldn’t he also think it'd be pathetic to go offline for something that could so easily be avoided?” That seemed to have gotten through Blitzwings' thick helm. Blitzwing bit his lip slightly and it looked like he was thinking. Bumblebee chose not to stop now and continued. “And aren’t you, like, special?” Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge at that and Bumblebee started explaining. “You’re like, his only triple changer or whatever, right? Can’t you get a free pass, just this once or something?” 

Blitzwing went completely silent, and Bumblebee waited for him to respond, but instead he turned his helm and looked out towards the hallway without a word. It looked like he was done with this conversation, but Bumblebee wasn’t. 

“Don’t you turn away from me! We’re not done yet!” He screamed at him. Blitzwings' faceplate switched to Hothead and he snapped his helm back towards him.

“Don’t talk about things you know nothing about, Autobot!” He snarled back.

“I don’t need to know how you cons do things to know that this is stupid!” He responded. “And my name is Bumblebee!” Blitzwing huffed and turned his helm away again, and Bumblebee wanted to scream in frustration.

He knew that he had to do _something_ , or else Blitzwing could go offline! But what could he do? All he had were his words and a- he had an idea.

He looked down at the barrel of oil at his peds. He frowned. He didn’t _like_ the idea that much and it was going to be really annoying...But if this was what had to be done, then so be it. 

He grabbed the barrel with both servos and, mind made up, walked right up to Blitzwing. 

Blitzwing turned his helm back and watched him approach with a curious look. Bumblebee stopped in front of him, and staring into Blitzwings' visor, held the barrel of oil towards him.

“Fine.” He growled. “If you're not gonna get your own then you can have mine.” Blitzwings' expression changed to one of shock. He remained silent a little longer, like he was waiting for Bumblebee to add something to that statement. When Bumblebee didn't say anything else so did his faceplate switched back to Icy and when he spoke up again he seemed cautious.

“You want me to have your oil?” Bumblebee sighed.

“Yes.” He hissed out, “Or is there another con rule you can't go against?!” Blitzwing just looked at him without saying anything. Bumblebee started fuming again and continued. “I don’t care what stupid con rule you have! Say that you forced me to give you my oil, or that you stole it, or whatever! I don’t care, it's not like I'm gonna snitch to Megatron! Just drink the damn oil!” Blitzwing looked at the barrel of oil Bumblebee was presenting to him. 

He swallowed thickly, his optic was looking at it seeming almost mesmerised. He moved his servos a little making the chains rattle and the glimmer in his optics disappeared and a look of annoyance took its place. He gave the chains around his wrist one strong yank; before he muttered something that was too quiet for Bumblebee to hear.

“What was that?” Bumblebee asked, when Blitzwing didn't repeat himself Bumblebee let out another huff. “What is it now?!”

Blitzwing frowned, it looked like he was contemplating something and he seemed really annoyed. He finally let out a sigh of defeat and spoke up.

“You have to feed it to me” Bumblebee looked up at him surprised and his anger slowly drained out of him. “Listen to me Autobot-.”

“Bumblebee” He corrected in a dry tone.

“Whatever," he scoffed, "I will take just as much pleasure in this as you will, but I can’t drink it by myself” Bumblebee glanced over at Blitzwings' restraints and immediately understood where he was coming from. Blitzwing couldn’t hold the barrel with his servos, and Bumblebee knew that Blitzwing wouldn’t be able to bend down far enough to drink the oil if he placed it on the floor. That left them with the only option being for Bumblebee to hold it for him. 

Bumblebee looked down at the barrel and then at Blitzwing. He sighed. It was this or Blitzwing went offline and left him here alone. 

“Whatever, as long as you drink the fragging oil” Bumblebee growled.

Blitzwing bent down as far as he could. They were nearly at optic level but Blitzwing was still a bit taller. Bumblebee held up the barrel and placed the edge of it to Blitzwings lips and carefully tilted it.

“Make a sound or something if you need me to stop.” Blitzwing made a little nod and started drinking from it. 

Blitzwing was able to take a single mouthful of oil, before his faceplate switched to Random and he started to chug it at an alarming rate. He was drinking it like he was in a competition or like he was afraid it would be pulled away from him at any moment.

Suddenly it sounded like something caught his throat and he started coughing. Bumblebee immediately pulled the barrel away and looked sternly at him.

“Take it easy! You're going to choke!” Blitzwing coughed a few more times before leaning forward as far as his chains would allow and eyeing the barrel. Bumblebee rolled his optics and held it up towards him again.

“Drink slower! No one's going to steal it from you.” Blitzwing started drinking again, a bit slower than before but he still took large gulps. 

Soon the barrel was empty and Bumblebee pulled it away and placed it back on the floor. Blitzwing followed the barrel with disappointed optics, but Bumblebee couldn’t help but notice that Blitzwing was already looking much better, his optics in particular seemed like they were just a little bit brighter, and Bumblebee had to admit, it was kind of comforting; It was much better than the dull, listless look they’d had not too long ago. 

Bumblebee sighed and picked the conversation back up.

“Okay, how about this? You take my oil today. I'll take it tomorrow and then we'll just switch who gets it every other day.” Blitzwing cocked his helm to the side and his faceplate spun back to Icy.

“You want to continue to share your oil with me?” He asked, a hint of disbelief to his voice.

“Unlike _someone_ ,” Bumblebee said in an accusing tone, "I don't let my pride be the end of me. So, if I share my oil with you then you can continue to be stubborn while also continuing to remain online” Blitzwing was quiet, he looked a bit confused.

“You would be willing to share your oil with me, even though it’s by my own choice that I’m starving? Knowing that, that would mean you'd go every other day without fuel?” Bumblebee threw his arms up.

“I’m not happy about it!” He sighed. “But if this is what it takes to keep your stupid aft online, then...it's worth it” Blitzwing just looked at Bumblebee. There was a strange look in his optics, Bumblebee couldn’t pin down what it was, but it was new. It looked like Blitzwing was thinking hard before he finally answered.

“You don’t have to.” he said softly. Bumblebee let out an aggravated sigh.

“But I do have too! Or else you're going to go offline and that would be a huge pain in my aft for several reasons. For one I need your help to fight all those robots, the second reason-” Blitzwing interrupted before he could finish his tirade.

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Bumblebees' thoughts halted and he looked up at Blitzwing confused.

“What did you mean then?” He asked, Blitzwing paused for a moment before answering.

“I’ll go back to the cell of my own accord.” Bumblebees optics widened a bit. He had seemed so against it a moment ago, but it looked like now he had decided to do a complete one-eighty.

“But, Megatron?” Something flashed in Blitzwings' optics and his servos closed into tight fists.

“You’re right. Survival is more important, and Megatron will probably overlook it if I return to his side alive” His voice sounded tight. Like he had to force out every syllable.

“Oh, Well that's great!” Bumblebee was a bit unsure as to how he should reply to that, so a stilted response was the best his processor could come up with. Blitzwing made a short nod and then he seemed to get lost in his own thoughts.

Bumblebee was honestly a little surprised that he had been able to convince Blitzwing, and that the con had actually listened and considered his advice was unexpected. It felt kind of nice to know that he was being heard and that his observations weren't just seen as annoying background noise.

They were both silent for a while before Bumblebee realised he was still standing within Blitzwings' attack range, though If Bumblebee was being honest, he wasn't very concerned. He knew he probably _should_ be, but he wasn’t. Blitzwing hadn't hurt him since the night Bumblebee had woken him up, and he doubted he'd be attacked for no reason. Bumblebee knew that Blitzwing was considered crazy and therefore unpredictable, but the more time he spent with him the more he realised he wasn't as insane as everyone made him out to be. 

Bumblebee wasn't afraid to be this close to Blitzwing, but realized he didn't have a reason to remain this close either, so he turned around and was about to walk back to his side of the cell when Blitzwing suddenly spoke up.

“Your name is Bumblebee, correct?” It wasn't phrased like a question, it was more like he just wanted confirmation. Bumblebee rolled his optics and looked back at Blitzwing with a scowl. 

“You don't say!” Annoyance and irritation clear in his voice. “I've told you like a thousand times! Do I need to spell it out for you?!” Blitzwing scowled a little at that but then just sighed and he relaxed again. 

He looked...conflicted. Like he was fighting with himself. Bumblebee just stood there waiting for Blitzwing to finally make up his mind and start talking again. It took a few more moments but by then Blitzwings' determination seemed to solidify. 

His optics met Bumblebees, and to the minibots surprise, they looked very different.

His optics didn’t have their usual sharp, suspicious, or cold and dangerous look, this time they were...softer, more calm. There was a warmth in them, it wasn't particularly strong, more like the flicker of a candle flame. It honestly threw Bumblebee for a loop, he had no idea that Blitzwing was even capable of making such a soft expression. The same optics that had made him so uncomfortable that he had actively tried to avoid their gaze now felt inviting. Bumblebee just stared into them, not because he felt obliged to but because he wanted to. His spark felt light and fluttery, though he couldn't figure out why. ‘ _Weird.’_

Bumblebees' thoughts were quickly interrupted when Blitzwing finally decided to speak.

“Thank you, Bumblebee.” He said, making sure his voice was clear, so that Bumblebee would hear him correctly and his words wouldn't feel rushed, or half sparked.

As soon as Bumblebees' processor grasped what Blitzwing had said, he grinned cheekily. 

“What’s this? You can actually say my name?! It’s a miracle! Praise be to Primus!” He said and let out a laugh. Blitzwing scowled and his faceplate switched to Hothead.

“Don’t test me!” He snarled “I can go back to calling you, bug anytime I want!” Bumblebee faked an exaggerated frown.

“Aww, and just when I got promoted to being called Bumblebee ” He jested.

Blitzwing frowned and turned his helm so he was looking out into the hallway again, completely ignoring Bumblebee.

Bumblebee let the conversion die down and walked back to his side of the cell, just to realise he had nothing to do any longer. Blitzwing had turned his helm away, symbolising that he wasn’t up for conversation right now, and Bumblebee didn’t feel like pushing it.

He thought for a moment about what he could do to pass the time before he decided to just continue his last self imposed mission of learning to stand on his servos. He rubbed his servos together, and walked up to the nearest wall.

Whilst he was trying to find his center of balance, he started thinking about Blitzwing and the weird relationship they had at the moment.

They weren't exactly enemies anymore, but they weren't really friends either. Bumblebee had helped Blitzwing, and the con had helped him in return.

He had noticed a change in how Blitzwing seemed to regard him. He was more willing to talk and just in general seemed less hostile. 

Bumblebee also realised that he was, for lack of a better way to explain it, not afraid of Blitzwing anymore. It wouldn’t make sense for Blitzwing to offline him after he had saved Bumblebees' life. So that brought Bumblebee to the conclusion that Blitzwing wasn't interested in offlining him. That is, unless Bumblebee screwed up royally or the situation changed; like Master Disaster forcing them to fight each other or something like that.

However this arrangement had one major problem, even if Blitzwing and Bumblebee were on a common ‘not offlining each other' ground, but they still weren't exactly on the same side. 

Bumblebee clearly remembered how Blitzwing had punch that bullet proof glass while they were still in the maze as a threat and he felt his spark sink down to his tank. 

They weren't enemies, but they weren't friends, so then what were they? Allies didn’t seem like the right word for it. They were stuck in the same situation and they had the same goals, but their interactions could turn from almost friendly to outright hostility in a matter of seconds. 

Bumblebee thought for a bit longer. Was there a way to keep them from walking the fine line between enemies and not enemies? And then an idea hit him. It was so obvious! he didn’t know how he hadn't thought of it before.

A pact! a pact that would include a peace treaty, and a promise to assist each other until both of them escaped.

Making such a pact could be considered borderline treason to both the Decepticon cause and the Autobots, but this was a matter of survival, and Bumblebee would much rather be a traitor who got out of this place alive than a loyal Autobot that went offline because he accidentally slagged off a Decepticon. And this is a matter of survival! He should get a free pass.

Of course the pact would be meaningless if Blitzwing just chose to not follow their vows, but so far Blitzwing had kept his word and a pact would probably be better than nothing, right?

Bumblebee put his attempts to stand on his servos on hold and turned to look at Blitzwing. He only now noticed that he had been watching his attempts with mild amusement. Bumblebee scanned his frame from top to bottom whilst he thought it over. Blitzwing finally noticed that Bumblebee was deep in thought and his Hothead faceplate swapped over to Icy.

“Is something amiss?” Blitzwing asked. Bumblebee took a moment to think his plan over, he had no idea how Blitzwing would take this, or how big of a betrayal this could be seen as for a Decepticon, but it was worth a try. The worst thing that could happen was that Blitzwing said no.

“I want to discuss something with you.” Bumblebee started seriously, his tonal shift seemed to catch Blitziwng a bit off guard and it looked like his entire attention was now focused on Bumblebee.

“Go on.” he said, Bumblebee started trying to think of the best way to lay this all out but finally decided to just get right to the point.

“Would you consider creating an alliance with me? Like a pact or something?” Blitzwing looked a bit surprised.

“An alliance? Between the two of us?” He said almost in disbelief. Bumblebee nodded.

To Bumblebees' relief it didn’t look like Blitzwing was going to reject it outright. He instead seemed to think deeply, and without losing his thoughtful expression said,

“What would this alliance between us entail?” Bumblebee made a carefree shrug.

“You know, normal alliance stuff” Blitzwing didn’t look very satisfied with that answer so Bumblebee continued. “Not trying to hurt or offline each other and we'll both offer assistance in getting out of this place.” Blitzwing seemed content enough with that answer and returned to thinking it over.

It took a moment before he started speaking again.

“ _If_ ,” He put a lot of emphasis on that part. “I chose to agree with you, when would this little " _pact"_ of ours end?” Bumblebee went quiet himself, thinking. he hadn't really planned this pact out very well, he had just gotten the basic idea for it just a couple of minutes ago. 

He realised he needed to be very clear on this part, just in case Blitzwing was that kind of mech that followed contracts but constantly looked for, and exploited, loopholes. 

If Bumblebee said that the pact ended when they both escaped so could Blitzwing offline him the second they left this place, and if he said when _one_ of us escapes then Blitzwing, in the case he escaped first, could just leave Bumblebee behind to his fate. So he needed to cover all his bases.

“How about this,” He started. “We'll work together so that _both_ of us get out of this place alive. Then once we're both free we’ll go our separate ways and return to our factions. Only after we officially return to our groups and we meet up again, will the agreement be over.” Blitzwing thought it over, before he looked up and locked optics with him.

“If your team finds us, what will keep you from betraying our agreement and capturing me?” His voice was chilling.

“What will keep you from betraying our agreement and bringing me to Megatron?” Bumblebee responded. 

They both went silent. Bumblebee felt this could be the end of the conversation and he knew he needed to do something. He sighed. 

“Look, I understand why you don’t trust me, and I think you know very well why I can’t trust you, but if we work together our chances of escaping alive increase immensely.” Bumblebee explained. “There are things that only you can do, and I have my own set of skills I can put to use, It would be beneficial for both of us to work together.” He sighed again. “And I know that I have no way to prove to you that I'll take our pact seriously, but the same thing can be said about you. I know this might sound stupid, asking you to take a leap of faith, but there isn't much else we can do; we're just going to have to try to trust each other.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “Aaaaand we've already stopped trying to offline each other and we've helped each other out already, so having an alliance isn't really that different.”

Blitzwing just looked intensely into Bumblebees' optics. The suspicious glimmer was back and it was starting to feel like he was trying to read Bumblebees' mind. 

Bumblebee stood his ground and tried to focus on making himself look as genuine and trustworthy as possible.

It felt like Blitzwing was taking forever to think it over, and Bumblebee started to worry that he was going to say no, after all trust didn’t really seem to be Blitzwings' strong suit.

So Bumblebee chose to make the first move. He took a few steps forward so he was well within Blitzwings' kicking range and moved his arms out so that Blitzwing had a clear shot at his chest. Bumblebee knew that if Blitzwing wanted he could easily swing his leg out and land a clear hit, and if he did attempt a kick there was no certainty Bumblebee would be able to dodge in time. 

Blitzwing saw the display but didn’t mention it. He just continued to stare right through him.

They stood at an impasse like that for a few minutes before Blitzwing finally broke optic contact.

“If I agree to this, I also want your word that you will never reveal this agreement to anyone. Neither Autobot or Decepticon; it will stay between us.” Bumblebee made a short laugh and shook his helm.

“That’s fine by me. I don’t exactly plan to run around hooting about how I made an alliance with a Decepticon, that’s borderline treason!” Bumblebee said, hoping that the light hearted way he said it would put Blitzwings' mind at ease. "But they might learn about it from the show" Bumblebee reasoned.

Blitzwing was quiet for a bit longer before he sighed.

“Maybe, but I guess there's still a chance that they won't. And if that is the case then I do not want this to get out" He sighed "So an agreement of assistance and non violence until we both are free and reunited with our factions then?” Bumblebee looked at him surprised.

“Are you serious?!” Bumblebee exclaimed, His voice full of excitement. “Are you really going to make an alliance with me?!” Blitzwing groaned, it looked like he was already regretting his decision.

“Yes. Your reasoning makes sense. Earlier experiences show that if we work together the chances of us both surviving this whole ordeal increase.” His faceplate suddenly switched to Random and he giggled. “And I have seen what you look like when you lie! You are really bad at it! So I would know if you're being dishonest!” He said and abandoned the giggle for full blown laughter.

Bumblebee frowned at him, but couldn’t stay irritated for long. _‘Who would have thought that my terrible lying skills would be useful for something’_ Bumblebee shook his helm and tried to get back his serious expression.

“Do I have your word on this?” Bumblebee asked as he met the big mech optic to optic. Blitzwing was quiet for a moment longer before his faceplate switched back to Icy and he nodded.

“I, Blitzwing, a loyal soldier-” Bumblebee cut him off.

“You don’t have to do the long version.” He had wanted the long version the first time they had made a promise but now he found it kind of annoying. Blitzwing rolled his optics.

“Fine, you have my word. Do I have yours?” Bumblebee nodded.

“You have my word.” Bumblebee said and made an x over his chest. “Cross my spark and hope to die” 

The cell returned to being quiet for the time being, as both of them just let it sink in that they now had to abandon the label of enemies for allies and what that meant for them both. Blitzwing was the one who spoke up first.

“Then we have an agreement.” He said, like he was simply acknowledging their newly made pact. As soon as that sentence left his mouth though, his faceplate spun to Hothead. “But if you double cross me so help me will I crush you into sheet metal!” Bumblebee grinned cheekily, not feeling the least bit frightened by the threat.

“Right back at ya big guy!” And for the first in a long time, Bumblebee could feel himself getting filled up with new hope and determination. Their chance at getting out of this place was starting to look just a little bit closer.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for getting this fic over 100 kudos!!!

Bumblebee was currently standing upside down, trying once again trying to stand on his servos. His attempts were fruitless however; He was growing more and more tired and he was having a hard time keeping his optics open. 

He finally decided to stop and sat down.

The fact that he hadn't had any fuel today was starting to catch up to him. He had gotten increasingly hungry as time went on, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He had tried to keep himself occupied with attempts to stand on his servos, hoping that it would help take his mind off his empty fuel tank.

It had worked to a point, but now he was at the end of his rope and needed to recharge.

He decided to lay down. The stone ground was, as always, hard and uncomfortable but it also was cold and now that he wasn't moving the frigid temperature had a chance to seep through his armor and he started shivering, making a rattling sound reverberate throughout the cell.

Bumblebee tried curling up into a ball to preserve heat, but it didn’t help much. His denta started to chatter and he closed his optics shut, and tried to force himself into recharge.

He was just laying there shaking like a leaf, the rattling of his plates continued for a few more moments before a whirl sound rang out and Blitzwing started shouting.

“For Primus sake! Stop that blasted noise!” He yelled at him. “I can’t recharge when you're clattering like a pack of screws in a blender!” 

Bumblebee opened his optics and glared at Blitzwing.

“I’m _so_ sorry that me being cold is such an inconvenience for you!” He yelled back.

Blitzwing scowled at him for a moment, looking conflicted, but soon enough his mind seemed to settle on a decision and he started speaking again.

“If you're so damn cold come over here and warm yourself.” His voice sounded a little less harsh and angry this time. 

Bumblebee lost his frustrated expression, he almost couldn't believe what he was hearing.

“Wh-what?” He asked, and quickly sat up.

“You’re cold! I’m warm! Just lay next to me so you don't freeze your aft off.” Blitzwing explained with a huff, Bumblebee just gawked at him whilst he tried comprehending what Blitzwing just had suggested he should do.

Bumblebee already knew that Blitzwing's frame was unnaturally warm for two reasons: one, he didn’t seem bothered by the cold, and two when Bumblebee had fixed his bandages and had thrown his arms around the cons neck, to stop himself from falling, he had felt the heat his frame seemed to radiate. Bumblebee still felt a bit embarrassed about that part, but at least he knew that Blitzwing wasn't lying to him.

It made sense to Bumblebee. He _was_ freezing, and if he moved closer to Blitzwing he could warm himself, that was just a basic survival tactic. Heat preservation by two individuals being close together. So the suggestion made sense, but that didn’t stop this from being pretty unexpected, especially coming from Blitzwing.

Not only would he be nestled up close to Blitzwing, but from the sound of it, Blitzwing was also suggesting that he should stay there and recharge while up close for the whole night cycle.

“Are you serious?" Bumblebee said, still in a state of shock. "Like, you're not just saying that for some kind of joke? You mean I can use you as a heater?”

Blitzwing scowl deepened at that last part.

“Don’t call me a fraggin' heater!” He growled out first, just to set things straight, “And I’m not joking.” He continued in a more serious tone. 

Bumblebee waited a minute, half expecting Random to switch over and say that he was actually kidding, but he didn’t show up and Blitzwing seemed to be getting impatient when Bumblebee just sat there and gawked at him like he had just pulled a rabbit out of a hat.

“Well? What’s it gonna be?!” He promoted, Bumblebee shook off his surprise and blinked a few times.

“So, I can like, recharge next to you then? You're totally fine with that?” Bumblebee said slowly, his voice holding a hint of skepticism. Blitzwing let out a loud, frustrated sigh.

“Yes, for Primus sake, you can recharge next to me! If I didn't mean it I wouldn’t have fraggin' suggested it!” He yelled. “We just made an alliance to help each other didn’t we?!”

That _was_ true, they had made a pact, but Bumblebee hadn't thought that Blitzwing was going to help him with such small problems; like offering him a way to keep warm. He thought it was going to be much grander gestures, like for example, not letting Bumblebee go offline in the arena; he hadn't considered that Blitzwing would care if he was cold or not. He also hadn't expected Blitzwing to be so on top of helping him out. He had thought Blitzwing would need at least a little time to get used to the idea of being in an alliance, but it would seem that wasn't the case.

Bumblebee was also surprised that Blitzwing had suggested that they should recharge next to each other. Recharging was one of the most vulnerable positions a cybertronian could be in, and with Bumblebee being so close to Blitzwing, if he wanted to seriously injure the con, it would be a piece of cake. He guessed though, that it would be just as easy for Blitzwing to injure Bumblebee.

So the fact that Blitzwing was even offering to let Bumblebee recharge next to him was surprising, to say the least.

_‘Maybe this is his way of showing he is serious about the alliance, or he's just tired, and getting super annoyed by my shivering_ ’ Whatever the reason Bumblebee wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Bumblebee stood up and walked over to him. Making sure to keep a slow pace just in case Blitzwing decided he'd change his mind, or admit this whole thing was a joke. He made no such declaration though, and finally reassured, Bumblebee stopped before Blitzwing's massive frame.

Bumblebee looked Blitzwing over, trying to figure out the best way to go about this, he could lay down with his back against Blitzwing, that way he could be warm but without it being too personal. Sure they were allies now, but they still weren't buddy buddy, so he wanted to make this thing the least awkward for both of them.

He finally decided to lay down at Blitzwings' right, and with his back facing him, he slowly started to scoot backwards. Bumblebee glanced over his shoulder, checking just in case it looked like Blitzwing was going to take his offer back or push him away, but Blitzwing just looked down at him without saying a word so Bumblebee continued. 

He finally scooted close enough that his back was flush against Bitzwings leg, and he almost immediately felt the warmth radiating from Blitzwing's frame; warming up his back and slowly spreading throughout his own frame.

Bumblebee was a little shocked. He knew Blitzwing had said he was warm and he had noticed that Blitzwing didn’t seem bothered by the cold, but he hadn’t expected him to be _this_ warm. It was like someone had laid a heating pad over his back. 

Bumblebee, without really realising it, found himself pressing himself as close to Blitzwing as he could. He stopped shivering and gave a satisfied sigh as his frame finally relaxed. It had been so long since he had been this comfortable. During the nights he had been freezing and during the day he hadn't been exactly cold, but he hadn't been what he would considered warm either; So this was a really nice change of pace.

He heard Blitzwing's faceplate swap above him, and when he glanced up he was met with Random who was grinning down at him.

“Better?” He asked cheekily, his optics bright with mirth. 

“Primus you’re hot.” Was the first response Bumblebee went with, the words just slipping out of his mouth without putting much thought behind them. Blitzwings smile seemed to grow even larger.

“Thank you! I spend a lot of time trying to make myself look good!” It took Bumblebees' tired processor a moment to catch onto what he had just said and his faceplate turned bright pink.

“No! I didn’t mean it like that!” He hastily blurted out in a rush to explain himself. “I meant that you are literally hot! Like, you're weirdly warm for being stuck in this cold room! That's all!” Blitzwing just smiled at him and Bumblebee could tell he was having the time of his life holding this over his head. 

“Sure you did! ” He responded teasingly. Bumblebee tried to glare at him but it was ruined by his severe blushing.

“I didn’t mean hot as in you look good!" Bumblebee yelled, his voice cracked but he hoped Blitzwing didn't notice that part. "I honestly meant that you are just really warm! Like, are you related to a radiator?! How is it even possible for you to be able to produce this much heat?! That was all I meant! Don't misunderstand me! You know what I meant! You are just-"

Blitzwing just continued to smile, and gave him a flirtatious wink. Bumblebee continued ranting; his cheeks completely flushed with energon at this point. Finally Blitzwing took mercy on him and his faceplate switched back to Icy, and he interrupted him.

“I know what you meant. I was just pulling your leg.” He said, seeming to have calmed down from his earlier amusement. Blitzwing then yawned tiredly, and leaned his helm against the stone wall. Bumblebee was quiet for a moment, letting himself calm down and giving his flushed faceplate some time to return to its normal color before he spoke again.

“Thank you” He muttered, still a little mad at Blitzwing for making him feel so embarrassed. Blitzwing looked down at him, his optics held that soft look again that gave Bumblebee that weird sort of fluttery feeling in his tank. 

“You're welcome” Blitzwing mumbled sleepily, and closed his optics. 

It didn’t take long for Blitzwing's venting to start slowing down, and his frame completely relaxed as he entered recharge. Bumblebee could hear every vent Blitzwing took so clearly now that he was up close to him, and he had to admit, the sound was kind of relaxing. He just listened to the sound of Blitzwings' breathing, and slowly Bumblebee closed his own optics as he approached the border of recharge. 

He was immediately snapped clear awake though when Blitzwings' faceplate made at least 5 loud spins one after the other.

Bumblebee frowned and let out a frustrated sigh. ‘ _Right, his weird switching in his recharge thing, forgot about that, and he got annoyed at me for shivering too loud!’_

Bumblebee had half a mind to wake Blitzwing up just to stop the noise, it sounded 100 times louder now that he was this close! But he also remembered how pissed Blitzwing had been the last time he had woken him up and Bumblebee really didn't want his privilege to recharge next to Blitzwing to be revoked. Sure, he didn't like listening to the sound, but he didn't like being cold even more. There was also the possibility that Blitzwing would kick him again.

Bumblebee finally decided to just put his servos over his audio receptors and tightly closed his optics shut whilst trying his best to ignore the sound.

Maybe he would ask Blitzwing to do something about it in the morning. Bumblebee remembered Blitzwing saying he couldn’t control it, but maybe there was something he could do to stop it. Now that Bumblebee thought about it he realised that he didn’t even know why they were spinning like that while he recharged. Sure his faceplates switched when he was awake, but usually not this fast and not so many times in a row, usually he was on one for at least a moment before he switched. He also realised he still hadn’t gotten an explanation for Blitzwings terrified expression the last time he had woken him up. That look of sheer terror on the normally stoic blue faceplate was burned into his processor.

Bumblebee tried to reason it out, and come up with some kind of theory, both for his scared expression, and the constant switching. But his ability to concentrate degraded as he got more tired. Despite the constant whir of noise, his thoughts drifted further and further away until he finally fell into recharge, warm and pressed close against Blitzwing.

* * *

Blitzwing woke up to the feeling of something jabbing the side of his leg. 

His optics flew open and he violently snapped his helm to face what he thought was his opponent; however he relaxed immediately once he saw it was just Bumblebee. 

He had shifted in his recharge and accidentally bumped his elbow into his thigh, not hard, but it had been enough to rouse Blitzwing from his recharge.

Blitzwing sighed, he thought about continuing his recharge cycle, but he really wasn’t that tired anymore. He guessed it must be close to time they were usually woken up, so he just decided to stay awake and wait instead.

However that left him pondering what to do. He considered for a moment about attempting to escape his shackles again, but that would wake up Bumblebee. He frowned at that and looked down at the yellow minibot.

He was not curled up like he had been last night. It looked like he had adapted to using Blitzwing as a heater and had shifted so his back and his legs were closely pressed against Blitzwings' frame, apparently trying to maximize his heat absorption by pressing as close as he possibly could.

Blitzwing could feel every time Bumblebee dragged in a new breath of air and every time he released one. He could feel the subtle rhythm of it and he found himself unintentionally trying to match his venting to Bumblebees. 

Blitzwing examined his faceplate and saw that he no longer had the pinched, uncomfortable expression he'd had last night. Now his expression seemed more neutral, and he appeared to be recharging soundly. Blitzwing found himself just staring at the little minibot for no particular reason. 

He looked so tiny and fragile when he was recharging. Blitzwing knew that Bumblebee was no pushover, as he made clear when he was awake, but right now he just looked so vulnerable. And Blitzwing had to admit that he was kind of cute when he was recharging, _and not being an absolute pain in his aft._

Blitzwing was filled with dread as he immediately caught himself and shook his helm.

_‘What the frag am I thinking?! What the frag am I even doing?!’_ He berated himself. _‘I know we agreed to help each other but that mostly means not letting each other go offline! Letting yourself get used as a heater by an Autobot is overkill!'_ If any of the other Decepticons knew about this he would be turned into the laughing stock of the whole faction. What would Megatron say if he knew about this? That thought sent a chill through his whole frame and a cold lump appeared in his tank. He swallowed thickly. 

He felt his faceplate switch to Hothead. ‘ _I’m a top tier con! Working directly under Lord Megatron, and now I’m reduced to a damn heater?!’_

Blitzwing started grinding his denta, he knew he should stop this madness but he was unsure what action to take.

Kicking Bumblebee away was one option that popped into his helm, just take his ped and kick Bumblebee so hard he flew back to his side of the cell, but he trashed that idea right out of the gate. 

They had an alliance not to hurt each other and it was his own fault Bumblebee was recharging next to him, he had even been the one to suggest it, Bumblebee had just taken him up on his offer.

Blitzwing thought for a moment, before finally deciding that he actually didn’t need to do anything to Bumblebee, he could just move his own leg instead.

He twisted his frame a bit so there was now a gap of space between Bumblebee and his leg. He was satisfied with this action, or at least he was, until he heard a sound coming from the minbot.

His first thought was that his movement had accidentally awoken Bumblebee, but when Blitzwing looked down at him he could see that Bumblebees optics were still closed. He was honestly confused why Bumblebee was making noise until he realised that he was whimpering. 

Bumblebee then suddenly rolled over, now with his chest directed towards Blitzwing instead of his back, he stretched out his arm towards Blitzwing leg and made grabby servos. It was like he was looking in his recharge for the source of the heat that just had been taken away from him whilst making meek, needy, unhappy whimpering noises.

Blitzwing tried his best to ignore him, and let it all fade into annoying background noise, but he found himself unable to. 

He didn’t know why, but he couldn’t ignore Bumblebee miserable noises. He finally couldn’t stand it anymore and with a frustrated sigh he moved his leg back towards Bumblebee. 

Bumblebees servos immediately met Blitzwings' warm armor, and in finally finding the heat source that had been taken away Bumblebee, still deep in recharge, grabbed his leg in a semi hug and pressed his whole chest and faceplate against it. Blitzwing very nearly removed his leg again but that was before he caught the soft smile that had appeared on the minibots lips and he couldn’t bring himself to let Bumblebee be cold again.

Blitzwing let out a sigh of defeat. He had just made this situation worse than when it started! It had felt so much less personal when Bumblebee had just had his back pressed against him, but now Bumblebee had nestled so close to him and was holding onto him like he was never going to let go.

It all felt way too intimate, but Blitzwing just couldn’t bring himself to pull Bumblebee off and have to hear that whimpering again. He didn’t know why, but he just couldn't stand listening to that noise, not because it was annoying but because it made his spark...hurt? Hurt maybe wasn’t the right word for it, he was not actually in any pain, but he had no better way to describe it. 

He let out a deep sigh and finally just accepted that this was what was happening.

_‘Primus give me strength, what in the pit is even happening to me?’_ It felt like the whole universe was playing some kind of prank on him, that he wasn't even in on! 

He let out another deep sigh and just stared out into the hallway, and waited for the arena to open up and save him from this predicament.

It didn’t take long, half a mega-cycle perhaps, before the room began shaking.

Bumblebee shifted in his recharging and let out a yawn before he opened his optics just to notice he was staring right at Blitzwings' tank treads.

Blitzwing watched as the gears turned inside Bumblebees' helm and he could pretty much pinpoint the moment Bumblebee realised the position he had been recharging in.

Bumblebees optics slowly turned away from Blitzwings' leg and instead made its way towards his faceplate and soon enough they locked optics. Blitzwings' faceplate switched over to Random and he grinned.

“Goody goody morning!” He said with a giggle.

Bumblebee optics nearly doubled in size and he immediately let go of Blitzwing leg and hastily scrambled to his peds in the most inelegant way possible; his cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment. Seeing that expression alone was enough to make Blitzwings' decision to put his leg back worth it.

“Recharged well?” He teased. Bumblebee tried to give him a glare but it didn't have quite the impact when Bumblebee's cheeks were glowing pink.

“Shut up!” Bumblebee screeched in response. Before he sharply turned towards the opening to the arena and slipped out before the wall even had a chance to recede all the way.

Blitzwing let out another bark of laughter before his shackles finally opened and he went out as well.

He felt a lot better today, not completely alright, but still better than yesterday that was for sure.

His strength and energy had been slightly replenished, and he had yet to feel any hunger pains; however his fuel levels still weren't optimal, even with Bumblebees oil contribution, but that would change today.

Blitzwing was honestly looking forward to not being on the edge of starvation, but he wasn't looking forward to what he would have to do to get said oil.

Finally that time came. Blitzwing had just finished fighting off the enemy robots and Master Disaster, like so many times before, started talking to them through the loudspeakers.

“Great show today! None of you even passed out!” He said with a smirk, looking directly at Blitzwing.

Blitzwing closed his servos into fists and his faceplate switched to Hothead and he stared daggers at him from behind his visor. If looks could kill then would Master Disaster have died on the spot; unfortunately that wasn't the case as Master Disaster continued talking.

“So, what’s it going to be today be big guy?”

Blitzwing scowled, refusing to go back was starting to look very tempting. Taking orders from a human would never be appealing, and it didn’t either help matter's that if he walked back to the cell by himself, it would look like he was admitting defeat, and all his suffering caused by his refusal would be for nothing.

But despite all the reasons he wanted to keep resisting this human, he realized that it was in fact pointless, and he would only end up hurting himself, by keeping his own fuel levels dangerously low or hurting Bumblebee because he would be forced to share his own ration. 

Blitzwing let out a growl as he forced himself to turn around on his own and walk back to his cell. He knew that what he was doing was a disgrace, but it was this or having to live off of Bumblebees charity, and he found this to be the better of the two evils.

He heard the loudspeakers spark to life behind him.

“Oh! Well, well,” Master Disaster exclaimed, sounding both excited and overly smug. “So you finally decided to be smart? I knew there was only a matter of time before you gave in.” Blitzwing grit his denta so hard it felt like they would shatter. He curled his servos into fists and just continued to stare straight ahead, not giving Master Disaster as much as a second glance. 

He walked all the way back to the cell and even put the handcuffs on by himself, whilst muttering quite curses.

Just a klik later Bumblebee also entered the cell and looked at him with a surprised look..

“You actually did it.” He said in disbelief. Blitzwing was extremely irritated at this point and he had no patience for Bumblebees right now. 

“Why are you surprised!?” Blitzwing snapped at him. “I told you I would walk in here on my own accord yesterday!” He barked. Bumblebee put his servos up placatingly.

“Chill! I know you told me that! But I thought for sure out there that you wouldn’t go through with it!” Blitzwing just let out an angry huff in response. 

Bumblebee seemed to catch on that Blitzwing was in a bad mood and chose to give him some space to calm down by sitting down on his side of the cell and actually being quiet.

Blitzwing felt ashamed that he had made such a pathetic display, but his brooding was quickly interrupted when the feeder bot came by, this time with two barrels of oil. The robot turned towards Blitzwing and addressed him.

“One shackle shall be unlocked to allow accessibility to consume your oil, but immediately after consumption you must return your wrist to the cuff. Failure to comply will result in severe punishment.” Blitzwing let out a huff in acknowledgement, but didn't waste time with a response.

The food hatch was then opened and both barrels were slid inside before the hatch was shut again. The feeder bot then spoke up.

“The yellow robot must give the larger barrel to the tank robot.” Bumblebee just rolled his optics. He then grabbed the larger of the two barrels and walked over to Blitzwing, putting it down infront of him. He then walked back to his side of the cell, returning to his own barrel.

Shortly thereafter there was a click sound and Blitzwing right wrist was released from the cuff.

Blitzwing reached down and took a hold of the barrel he noticed It had a lid over it. His faceplate switched to Random and he brought the barrel to his mouth, puncturing the lid with his jagged dente. He then simply tilted it and started to drink. 

The feeling of oil once again filling up his tank was absolutely blissful. He swallowed the fuel in big gulps. The oil was mediocre at best but it still fulfilled its purpose, and he was a bit reluctant to admit it but the feeling of not starving far outshined any shame he felt. He watched as the warning on his HUD slowly downgraded in urgency. He was looking forward to not having a warning message appear every two kliks to tell him about a problem he already knew about.

He emptied the barrel in under a minute. When he was finished he still wasn't completely replenished, but it was a vast improvement. He let out his glossa to collect the scarce few drops of oil that still lingered, but it wasn’t much. One barrel wasn't even close to enough for a mech with his size, he would need much more. His faceplate switched to Icy and he turned towards the feeder bot.

“This is far too little, He said coldly. “I will need much more oil if I'm to remain in optimal condition” 

The feeder bot just stared at him without moving a piston. Blitzwing wondered if it even had the capacity to comprehend what he said, before It suddenly spoke up.

“Place your wrist back into the restraint.” Blitzwing frowned but did as he was told. The moment his wrist was back in place the shackle snapped shut, only then did the pathetic animatronic speak up again.

“I shall inform the master of your request.” And with that it turned around and walked away. Blitzwing let out frustrated huff.

* * *

Bumblebee finally managed to finish his own barrel of oil. He had been drinking at a much slower pace then Blitzwing had, but that is to be expected.

Blitzwing was still holding the barrel he had been drinking from, and without expending any effort he closed his servo into a fist and the barrel was turned into useless scrap metal. He then opened his palm and what used to be the barrel dropped to the stone floor and landed with a ping. Blitzwing just looked down at it with disinterested optics.

It looked like Blitzwing was feeling better today than he had yesterday. Bumblebee thought, It certainly looked like his strength was coming back to him at least. He didn't have that hungry look in his optics any longer, and Bumblebee had to admit that he was glad that it was gone.

“Feeling better?” He asked whilst absentmindedly drumming his digits on his empty barrel. Blitzwing turned his helm towards him and their optics met, the bored look he'd had a moment ago disappeared and he seemed to be focusing completely on Bumblebee.

“A bit, but it was still far too little to completely fill my fuel tank.” He said before his faceplate switched to Random. “I’m a growing mech! I need my oil so I can grow up big and strong!” He continued and let out a laugh.

Bumblebee lips quirked into a small grin at that. 

“Does being a triple changer mean you need more fuel than a normal mech your size?” Bumblebee asked.

Blitzwing turned quiet for a second before his faceplate switched back to Icy.

“Yes” He said shortly. 

“That makes sense.” Bumblebee responded. “You have more parts and stuff, and that's got to require more energy.” He then thought for a moment, he wanted to ask about the switching thing, but he wasn't quite sure how to bring it up. Eventually he decided to just be direct. “Can I ask you something?” Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge.

“You can certainly ask, but I won’t promise I will answer.” Bumblebee shrugged .

“Hey, I'll take what I can get. Soooo…” He began “What’s up with the constant switching when you recharge?”Bumblebee noticed how Blitzwings' frame stiffened, and he looked away from Bumblebee, instead focusing on a spot on the floor.

Bumblebee started worrying that he'd somehow stepped on another nerve, and he quickly tried to explain himself, hoping that it would somehow make Blitzwing more likely to give him an answer. “It’s just that it’s super loud when I recharge next to you, and it is not like one spin every two minutes it’s like, constant. So is there any way you could do something about it?” Blitzwing optics snapped back to him and his faceplate switched to Hothead.

“If it bothers you so much then don't recharge next to me!” He growled.

“I didn’t mean it like that!” Bumblebee said quickly, “I’m totally fine with it! But it would just be so much nicer if you didn’t do it, like if there's a way to do something about that is.” Blitzwing just stared at him for a moment before sighing.

“I can’t do anything about it.” He answered in a matter of fact tone of voice, like he wanted to distance himself from this subject despite that it was about him. 

“Okay…” Bumblebee said slowly. “Do you know what causes it?” Blitzwing was quiet for a really long time, and It looked like he was arguing with himself. It took a while, and Bumblebee was starting to lose hope that he would answer at all. 

Finally responded, “If you really must know, it's caused by nightmares” He growled, then turned his helm towards the hallway, signaling that he was finished with this whole conversation. Bumblebee just stared at him with wide optics.

“Nightmares makes your faceplates spin like crazy?” He said confusedly. He guessed that would explain the scared expression Blitzwing had had when Bumblebee had woken him up, but what could possibly scare a mech like Blitzwing? Blitzwing scowled and turned his helm back towards him.

“Yes, what of it?” He said defensively, like he was daring Bumblebee to mock him. Bumblebee noticed the tone Blitzwing was using, and he got the distinct feeling this subject wasn't something he should joke around with. 

“Nothing! I'm just a little surprised,” He explained. “I thought it would be something related to you being a triple changer I guess” Blitzwing scoffed but didn’t add anything. Bumblebee continued drumming his digits on the empty barrel for a moment longer before he spoke up again. “Is it the same nightmare every night, or are there different ones?” He asked. 

Blitzwing scowl deepened.

“It is always the same one every time I recharge.” Bumblebee let out a deep breath.

“That must suck” He said, Blitzwing snorted at that, and turned away from Bumblebee; instead seemed to focus on that one spot on the floor again.

“Tell me about it” He said in an exhausted tone of voice. There was something to his voice, like there was something to the edge of it, like a hint of sorrow.

Bumblebee was barely able to catch it, and he wondered what had brought that tone on.

"How long has this been going on?" He asked. Blitzwing took a moment to think and then just shrugged.

"It comes and goes with time." That was a pretty vague answer, and it didn't come close to satisfying Bumblebee, but he decided to let it go for the moment. 

Bumblebee was quiet for a few minutes before he spoke up in a soft voice. “You wanna talk about it?” Blitzwing turned back towards him, looking absolutely befuddled.

“What?” he asked, His tone reflecting his confusion.

“Do you wanna talk about your nightmare?” Bumblebee explained.”When I have a bad dream I talk to someone about it, usually, Bulkhead or Optimus, and that usually helps me feel better and it keeps the dream from coming back.” He said, trying to sound as genuine as possible. "So maybe it will work for you too" Blitzwing scoffed in response.

“I’ll pass” 

“Just thought it might help," He said with a shrug. "If you change your mind, let me know." Blitzwing gave a short nod of acknowledgement, but nothing more. Bumblebee tried to stay quiet for a little longer, but he was way too curious, “Can you give me, like a hint about what it's about at least?” Blitzwings' faceplate switched back to Icy.

“Why do you care so much about it?” He said, sounding suspicious.

“Just curious I guess” He explained. Blitzwings lips quirked up into a smirk.

“You seemed to be that a lot” 

“What can I say?” Bumblebee said with a smile. “I’m a curious person so... can you give me a hint or something?” Blitzwing rolled his optics and just ignored him. Bumblebee frowned at that. ”Aw come on, can’t you throw me a bone?” Blitzwing turned his optics to the hallway. “Can I at least guess?” Bumblebee asked, still hoping he could get some kind of hint. That seemed to catch Blitzwing attention because suddenly his faceplate switched to Random and he turned back towards him.

“You can certainly guess, but I won’t tell you if you’re right!” He said and let out a cackle. Bumblebee got a cheeky smile on his lips. He was sure that if he actually guessed right so would Blitzwing probably make a reaction, right? So Bumblebee started to brainstorm.

“Okay, is your nightmare about...Ghosts?”

“Nope!” Blitzwing said with a smile. No reaction Bumblebee noted.

“Is it about Sparkeaters?” Blitzwing shook his helm. Bumblebee continued.

“Is it the one about your denta falling out?” Bumblebee asked. “I’ve had that one and it's not fun.” Blitzwing shook his helm.

“Not even close!”

“Snakes, Vampires, Werewolves, Clowns, Space barnacles, Spiders?” Bumblebee was basically throwing stuff out at random trying to see if anything would stick. Something flashed in Blitzwings' optics at that last one, but it was gone just as quick, and his faceplate switched back to Icy.

“I don’t even know what most of those things are.” Bumblebee sighed and begrudgingly accepted that his curiosity about Blitzwings' chronic nightmares wouldn’t be satisfied today. 


	10. Chapter 10

In what was quickly becoming the norm, Bumblebee awoke to the room shaking. Immediately he started looking around; before letting out a sigh of relief.

He had been recharging next to Blitzwing again; however this time he hadn't woken up with his face smooshed up against Blitzwing's leg, this time when the mini bot had woken up, he was in the same position he had fallen into recharge in, with his back to the triple changer.

Bumblebee sat up and tried to rub the tiredness from his optics; before he looked up at Blitzwing who was only just now starting to come out of recharge himself. Blitzwing looked down at him with his optics only half open,

“Good morning” He mumbled.

“Good morning” Bumblebee responded and stood up. 

Soon enough the cell wall receded and they both walked out into the arena.

  
  


Blitzwing had just finished drinking his first barrel of oil and was now going to town on his second.

It would seem that the feeder robot had actually listened to his complaint about not receiving enough fuel, and this time had brought two barrels for Blitzwing instead of one.

Meanwhile, Bumblebee absently looked down at the floor and noticed the markings from his and Blitzwings' previous tic tac toe game had almost completely faded, and the few other things he had drawn on the stone floor were almost gone as well. His optics caught on the two lines he had made to symbolize how many days he had been locked up here; It felt like such a long time since he had made those markings.

Bumblebee grabbed his, now empty, barrel and broke off a piece so he could redraw the two lines so they were clearer. He was about to draw more lines, but he realised then, that he honestly wasn’t sure how long he had been stuck in this place. It felt like an eternity, but it probably hadn't even been even two weeks yet. Bumblebee thought for a moment as he tried to puzzle out how many days had actually gone by.

He was pretty sure it had to be at least ten days, but he wasn't positive about it, as he hadn’t made it a point to keep track. 

Bumblebee then heard a click from the other side of the cell, and snapped out of his train of thought Bumblebee looked over and saw that Blitzwing had finished both his barrels and had just placed his wrist back into the cuff.

Bumblebee glanced at the two lines he'd drawn; before he looked back at Blitzwing and spoke up.

“Hey Blitzwing.” Blitzwing turned to face Bumblebee and they locked optics.

“What is it?” He asked. 

“How long do you think we've been stuck here?” Bumblebee asked, tapping the two lines he'd just carved into the floor for emphasis. “I’m trying to keep track.”

Blitzwing took a moment , it looked like he was trying to mentally do the math. 

“I recharged twice in this cell before you were brought here, so for you it would be about...10-12 stellar cycles, somewhere around there.” He answered.

“Oh, I forgot you were already here when I showed up.” Bumblebee responded. He drew eight more lines. He looked at the now ten little white lines on the floor and got lost in thought.

Bumblebee had learned from human crime movies that unless a detective had a lead, an arrest, or even just a suspect, within 48 hours the chances of solving the crime was cut in half, and if Blitzwing's estimation was correct and they really had been stuck here for 10 to 12 days, then they had already past the 48 hour mark by at least 192 hours.

Bumblebee shook his helm, He shouldn’t worry, especially when he didn’t actually know how the investigation was going. 

Maybe his team had found a ton of leads, they might even already have a suspect who'd told them about his kidnapping, and even if they hadn’t; according to those detective movies his chances of being found were only cut in half. That meant there was still a 50% chance he'd be found and rescued. 

But whilst he was thinking a question appears. Bumblebee turned towards Blitzwing again, hoping to take his mind off the subject of his team.

"How did Master Disaster catch you?" Bumblebee asked. Blitzwing had obviously been captured earlier than Bumblebee, but he was still a little confused about how someone had even been able to pull that off.

Blitzwing didn't even hesitate before switching to Hothead.

"He used cowardly tactics, That's what he did!" He shouted, Blitzwing looked like he was getting progressively angrier just thinking about it. "I was flying over the city when an allspark signal appeared and Lord Megatron told me to go retrieve it. The signal was coming from this huge abandoned building, and once I entered, the door closed behind me and I was electrocuted until I went unconscious!" Blitzwing grit his denta. "That sniveling coward."

Bumblebee cocked his helm to the side. 

"Really? It was that easy?" Blitzwing let out a dark growl, and Bumblebee held up his servos defensively. "I just meant that when we were in that maze you were so suspicious of everything, weren't you even a little bit suspicious when you walked into that building?"

"Not really" He muttered. "No one seemed to be around, and I didn't notice any other Cybertroninas energy signatures." His faceplate switched to Random. "So I figured that meant I could call dibs on the fragment!" He said in a happy sing song. His faceplate was quickly replaced by Icy. "And even _if_ I was suspicious, it wouldn't have mattered. Lord Megatron gave me instruction to investigate the signal and I couldn't have defied his order." 

"Huh" Bumblebee started, "When I get an order I don't like I usually just fake static." Blitzwing gave him a confused look.

"Fake static?" 

"Yeah" Bumblebee responded. "Like this," Bumblebee pulled his servo up and activated his comm link. There was still only static from the other side, but that was fine, he didn't actually need to talk to someone to show Blitzwing what he meant. "What, khss- was that last part Optimus? I couldn't -bzzz I couldn't hear you -kshhh, I'm going thro- bzz a tunnel! -alk to you -bzz later" And then Bumblebee pretended to hang up and gave Blitzwing a smirk and a short bow like he had done a performans. "And that's how you get out of doing boring tasks" Blitzwing just looked at Bumblebee, his faceplate was emotionless, but his optic betrayed his amusement.

"Megatron would have my helm if I tried to pull a stunt like that." He said, his tone light with humor, but it was also clear that he genuinely believed it. Bumblebee frowned, he didn't know why, but that statement really pissed him off.

"Megatron sounds like a grade A glitch head!" Blitzwing just looked down and didn't respond to Bumblebee's statement. His faceplate instead switched over to Random and he changed the subject.

"Now it's your turn!" He said excitedly. "How did you get captured?"

Bumblebee's mind was pulled back to that night he had been kidnapped and he internally cringed a little.

"Pretty much the same way you did." Bumblebee sighed, "We picked up an allspark signal and when I went to check it out I was ambushed." Blitzwings switched back to Icy and he lifted an optic ridge.

"Alone?" Blitzwing asked. "You Autobots usually go on missions together," His faceplate switched again to Random, "You bots are like scraplets! If you find one, always expect more!" Bumblebee scowled at the comparison between his team and scraplets but chose to let the slight go for the moment, he did give Blitzwing a glare though.

"Yes I was alone. I went ahead because I didn't want to have to wait for my team" Blitzwing let out a cackle.

"So you could have avoided this if you had just waited a few more minutes for backup?" Bumblebee went silent. 

He crossed his arms over his chest and shot Blitzwing another glare.

He did have a point though, If Bumblebee had just been patient he might have avoided this whole thing. 

He thought back to the last moments he could recall before he'd blacked out that night. How he had heard Optimus call out to him through his comm link asking what had happened, he could remember his voice so clearly, how his tone had changed from confusion to concern, and how he had called out his name; boss bot had sounded so worried about him. 

Bumblebee mentally kicked himself. If only he'd listened and not faked that stupid static, if he had just waited a little longer he might have spared, both himself and his team, this awful mess.

He felt a lump appear in his intake.

If he ever got out of here and got to see his team again, the first thing he would do is apologise to Optimus. He shook his helm. _'Not if, when'_ He corrected himself. He _was_ getting out of here, but staying positive was getting harder and harder with every moment he was stuck in this place, and trying to ignore his growing homesickness was becoming impossible.

He wished he had someone from his team to talk to right now, preferably Sari, someone that could hype him up and encourage him to keep going. Even Optimus would be a welcome change, boss bot would at least know what to do in this situation, but they weren’t here, no one on his team was here, he was all alone.

He suddenly heard a whirl sound from the other side of the cell, and when Bumblebee glanced up and he saw that Blitzwing's faceplate had switched back to Icy.

Well, he supposed he wasn't “completely” alone, but he wasn't about to bare his spark to Blitzwing. Sure they had gotten closer, but he still wasn't comfortable telling a con how much he missed his fellow Autobots; besides Blitzwing would probably just laugh at him or mention how soft he was for relying on others or something like that.

He wasn’t even sure Blitzwing could relate to missing his teammates. He made it pretty clear the last time they spoke about the subject that Decepticons didn’t really care for each other, so Bumblebee was pretty sure that Blitzwing wasn't spark broken over not being with the rest of his faction.

Bumblebee thought for a moment and suddenly realized something. 

Blitzwing probably couldn't relate to Bumblebee missing his team, but maybe he could still relate to being homesick.

Cybertron was their homeplanet, but Decepticons had been banished from there a long time ago.

“Hey Blitzwing” Bumblebee said, his voice a bit serious and devoid of its normal teasing.

Blitzwing looked at him in surprise, it was clear that he had noticed Bumblebees' tonal shift.

“Is something wrong?” He asked. Bumblebee shook his helm.

“No, no, nothing's wrong,” He said a little less seriously. “Just curious about something.” The room went silent after that, and when Bumblebee didn't continue Blitzwing decided to take the bait and speak up.

“What are you 'curious' about now?” He asked. Bumblebee wondered if it was even a good idea to bring this up with Blitzwing, but he had already come this far, so he might as well go through with it.

“Do you miss Cybertron?” He asked. Blitzwing looked a little taken aback, clearly he hadn't expected that, but just as quickly his expression closed back down to nothing and he just stared at him. Bumblebee was starting to think Blitzwing wouldn’t answer at all. Perhaps the question had been too personal, or maybe he had taken it the wrong way. Bumblebee worried Blitzwing would interpret his question as mockery, as if Bumblebee was taunting Blitzwing with the reminder that he wasn't allowed to go back to Cybertron. 

Bumblebee was about to open his mouth again and explain that he didn’t mean it that way, but Blitzwing cut him off before he had time to even utter a single word by letting out a deeply tired sigh.

“Yes” He finally said, a hint of sorrow and longing in his voice. His faceplate then switched to Random. “If we didn’t miss it, then why would we Decepticons fight so hard for it?” He said and let out a loud laugh. But his laughter sounded more forced this time.

Bumblebee just looked at him for a moment, and he had to admit, he had sympathy for the Con. 

He knew that he had earned the fate of being banished from Cybertron along with all the other Decepticons, but the thought of missing your home and being homesick while also knowing that you could not go back was actually pretty depressing. Don’t get him wrong though, he was still very much on the side of the Decepticons never being allowed back on Cybertron, but he had to admit he could understand their reasons for wanting the freedom to return. 

Bumblebee had been stuck in this tiny cell for not even two weeks and he was already feeling terribly homesick. Who knew how long Blitzwing had felt something similar for their home planet. 

“What do you miss about it?” Bumblebee asked slowly, still unsure if Blitzwing would even consider answering as they approached more personal territory. Blitzwing took a moment to think about the question before he seemed to recall something.

“There was this bar, Jump Joint I think its name was, They had a live band that played every night. Their music was fantastic, made their own songs and everything! So much fun to dance to!” He said excitedly, his optics seemingly not even looking at Bumblebee as he relived those happy memories, but slowly his smile faded and he switched back to Icy. He let out a dry chuckle and shook his helm. “It’s stupid though." He said, almost like he was talking to himself. "To feel homesick for something like that.” He let his optics drop to the floor. Bumblebee felt the sudden urge to speak up and not let Blitzwings' words go ignored 

“Why is it stupid?” He asked, the question made Blitzwing lift his helm again.

“I don’t know if that bar or band even still exists. I don’t even know if the band members are still alive. There is a very real possibility that they all died in the war. For pits' sake, there's a chance I was even the one to kill them.” Silence descended over the cramped cell as if Blitzwing's words had been too loud, despite that he had spoken normaly, and now everything was just quiet in comparison.

Bumblebee hated how uncomfortable the silence had become and he quickly tried to think of something to say.

“I could find out if you want.” He said. Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge and Bumblebee continued to explain. “Once I get back to my base, I can check teletran 1 if the jump joint, or the band that played there are still around.” Blitzwing looked slightly amused by his offer. His faceplate switched to Random.

“And then what? You'll shout it to me the next time we battle?!” He said and let out a laugh. “You’ll scream ‘Hey, Blitzwing! that band you talked about is still around!’ And then you zap me with your stingers!” He said and howled with laughter. 

Bumblebee didn’t find it nearly as humorous and his gaze fell down to the concrete floor. He had actually forgotten for a second there that when they escaped this place Blitzwing would be his enemy again. It felt weird to think about now that they had routinely been talking so amicably, but the fact was when he and Blitzwing escaped this place they would be forced to fight etch other again, and If Bumblebee had to be completely honest, even if only to himself, he wished it didn't have to be that way. He had actually discovered that Blitwing wasn’t a bad bot when he wasn't trying to offline him, and Bumblebee was a little reluctant to return to their old ways.

The idea of harming Blitzwing, or even just giving him up to the elite guard to arrest, didn't look as appealing as it once had.

Bumblebee's musings were interrupted though when Blitzwing's faceplate switched back to Icy and he continued speaking.

“It’s weird you know? To be homesick when you don’t even know what you'd actually be coming home to. I don’t know if I'd even recognise "home" or what's left of it. Frag, I don’t even know if my studio is still around.” Bumblebees optics widened and he hastily spoke up before Blitzwing had a chance to change the subject.

“Hold on! Back up!” He yelled, stopping Blitzwing's train of thought. “Did you say ‘studio’? You had a studio on Cybertron? ” He asked, like he couldn’t believe his audio receptors.

“Yes” Blitzwing nodded. “Though if it is 'had' or 'have' I have yet to confirm” Bumblebee just stared at him.

“What kind of studio? Did you do music or something?” Bumblebee asked skeptically, he had some serious doubt that Blitzwing with his strong accent could make a career in the music industry.

Blitzwing faceplate switched to Random.

“Oh I wish! Cybertronians would come from far and wide to listen to my singing voice!” He said, sounding, absolutely delighted at the idea. 

“So if it wasn't a music studio, then what did you use it for?” Blitzwing's faceplate switched back to Icy.

“It was an art studio, I did sculptures before I joined the war.” Bumblebee stared at him while he tried to come to terms with this information. He had always seen Blitzwing as a source of destruction, so the idea that he was also capable of creating something was a bit of a shock. He hadn't even considered that Blitzwing would have any other hobbies other than fighting or destroying things.

“Sculptures? What kind of sculptures?” Blitzwing shrugged.

“Whatever the client wanted, but I mostly sculpted statues.” When Bumblebee didn't respond for a moment Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge. “Is something wrong?” Bumblebee snapped out of his surprise and shook his helm.

“No, no it's just that I've never thought of you in like, a normal job situation, or that you have hobbies that aren't related to violence and mayhem ” 

“I suppose that's fair, It's not as if I get to utilize those skills a lot now.” He responded. “The last time I made a sculpture was when we thought Megatron had been taken offline.” His faceplate switched to Hothead. “It took me six Deca-cycles to finish it! And then Lugnut, that scrap metal for processor savage, destroyed it!” Blitzwing growled, it sounded like he still held quite the grudge about its destruction, despite all the time that must have passed between then and now.

Bumblebee couldn't really blame Blitzwing too much for his anger, if he'd worked on something for six deca cycles just to have it destroyed he'd have been pretty slagged off too. He'd never really understood what was so alluring about art, but he knew from Bulkhead that artwork often meant a lot to the artist that made it. He supposed he could compare it to playing a game for nearly two months and then having someone delete the save file, and if Bumblebee thought of it that way, he would consider Blitzwing rage understandable at the very least.

“I made a sculpture once.” Bumblebee said, ”I just welded it together though, it was Bulkhead's idea. He works with art and stuff as well” Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge..

"I am surprised that there is anyone else that likes to work in the creative spectrum on this tiny dirt ball of a planet." Bumblebee smirked up at him. 

“Do you feel threatened by competition?” Blitzwing scoffed and his faceplate switched to Hothead,

“I can beat that copper, clad, klutz both in sculpture and in battle! I would like to see him try to out shine me!”

Bumblebee faked a disappointed frown.

“I guess if we ever have to fight over an allspark fragment by joining an art competition i guess me and my team might as well give up.” Bumblebee said dramatically, as he tried to fake complete despair. Bumblebee's acting fell apart though when he couldn’t contain his laughter, and he could hear Blitzwing release a snort of amusement at his theatrics 

Bumblebee's laughter finally subsided and silence returned to their cell. 

‘ _I wonder if Bulkhead has made any new art pieces while I’ve been gone’_ Bumblebee thought, as the feeling of homesickness snaked its way back. His thoughts were interrupted though when Blitzwing decided to continue their topic of conversation.

“Do _you_ miss Cybertron?” Blitzwing asked, turning the original question back towards Bumblebee.

Bumblebee took a moment to think about it before he shook his helm.

“No, not really I guess” Bumblebee said, he felt a little weird saying that after Blitzwing had confided that he missed it. It must have sounded like he was spoiled and didn’t appreciate what he had. But however Blitzwing just looked intrigued.

“Really?” Bumblebee shook his helm again. “Why not?” Blitzwing continued, sounding surprised. 

“It's not like I dislike Cybertron or anything, I mean sure there are things about it I miss, but I just think I prefer my life here on earth, you know?” Bumblebee explained. “I really like it here, earth has great roads, there's always fun stuff to do, and Sari lives here” He went quiet after that. He wondered if he should even say the next part or not. He knew there was a chance that Blitzwing would just laugh at him, but he finally made up his mind. Blitzwing had willingly shared some personal things about himself, so it was only fair that Bumblebee share some of his own thoughts as well. “Back on Cybertron, I was a nobody. I was just another minibot among thousands, there was nothing special about me.” Bumblebee's smile became softer though as he continued to explain, “But here, _everyone_ knows my name, these people think I'm a hero, I’m somebody here, I'm not just another minibot. On Cybertron I never would have been noticed.” He said. His tone was somewhat melancholy at the end. Blitzwing thankfully didn’t laugh at him, but he did go quiet for a moment before answering.

“I don’t think that's true at all.” Bumblebee perked up a bit as he hadn't really expected that response. “I think there has always been something special about you.” Bumblebee gave him a smirk.

“Is that an insult or a complement?” Blitzwing shrugged.

“Take it as you wish” He said teasingly. He seemed to think something over for a bit before speaking up. "Is there anything that you miss of Cybertron?” He asked. 

Bumblebee had to think about it for a moment.

“Energion goodies” he finally said. Blitzwing looked surprised.

“The thing you miss the most… is energion goodies?” He responded slowly, sounding both amused and skeptical. Bumblebee frowned.

“What’s wrong with that?! I haven’t had any since I got here!” Blitzwing's faceplate switched to Random and he let out a cackle.

“Maybe the Decepticons could have already conquered Cybertron if we had just relocated all the energion goodies factories off world!” He said another hysterical laugh. “Then maybe all the Autobots would have just left the planet up for grabs!”

Bumblebee let out a chuckle. 

“Be sure to propose that plan to Megatron next time you see him.”

“Something tells me he will fail to see the incredible genius behind such a plan!” He responded with a grin.

Their conversation slowly died down after that.

Bumblebee slowly started to notice the dropping temperature of the cell l and with that he could feel himself start to shiver, still it wasn't as cold as it would be later tonight. 

Bumblebee absentmindedly rubbed his servos over his upper arms trying to use friction to keep himself warm. Blitzwing noticed it the moment Bumblebee started and his faceplate switched back to Icy.

“Are you cold, already?” Bumblebee shook his helm in denial. There were still a few hours left before he would be tired enough to recharge.

“Nah, I'm fine. It's just a little chilly in here” He said dismissively as he tried to wave off Blitzwing's concern. He didn’t want to risk making it awkward by snuggling up to Blitzwing when they were both awake. Blitzwing went quiet for a moment before he spoke up again.

“You know I don't mind, you can just sit next to me and warm up if you’d like.” Bumblebee stared at him.

“But we're not going in to recharge yet.” He said. Blitzwing rolled his optics.

“That’s fine” His faceplate switched to Random. “It’s not like you're stealing my heat, so you're welcome to stay close to me anytime!” 

Bumblebee felt that fluttering feeling in his tank again.

There was something about those words, he couldn’t put his digit on it, but having the confirmation that Bumblebee could be close to Blitzwing as much as he liked, made his spark beat faster. For some reason he liked the idea of staying close to Blitzwing.

Bumblebee got up from where he'd been shivering and made his way over to Blitzwing. Bumblebee looked the triple changer over, as a smile slowly appeared on his lips.

“Can you sit up on your knees for a sec?” He asked. The question had Blitzwing's faceplate switching back to Icy, who observed Bumblebee with mild suspicion.

“Why?” he asked dubiously. Bumblebee just grinned up at him.

“Can you please just do it?” Blitzwing rolled his optics but did as he was asked and sat down on his knees.

“Now what?” Blitzwing just barely had enough time to ask that question before Bumblebee sat down on the floor and laid his back on Blitzwings thighs and used them almost like he was using them as a back of a lounger.

Bumblebee quickly felt Blitzwings warmth spreading over his back and he put his servos behind his helm and just relaxed with a smug grin on his lips.

He felt Blitzwing move a little and when he looked up, he could see that Blitzwing had moved a bit forward so his faceplate was now directly over him. 

“Comfortable?” He asked in a sarcastic tone. Bumblebee looked up at him and shrugged.

“What? You said it was alright for me to be close to you and share your warmth” He said with a smirk. Blitzwing just rolled his optics.

Bumblebee knew that he should probably feel awkward about being this close and touchy with Blitzwing, but if the only way he could stay warm was to stay close to Blitzwing, then they'd both just have to get used to it. 

And if he was being honest with himself it wasn't that bad being so close to the con, so Bumblebee easily let go of any embarrassment he might have felt. Being warm, even if he had to cuddle up with Blitzwing, actually felt...really nice. 

He remembered how Blitziwng's size used to intimidate him, but right now, Bumblebee didn’t have an ounce of fear inside his frame. He actually found Blitzwings' presence kind of comforting. Like, Blitzwing could protect him if the situation called for it, Blitzwing would be able to keep him safe. Bumblebee felt...content, weirdly enough.

Bumblebee closed his optics for a moment and tried to just focus on the warmth, as well as the sound of Blitzwing's subtle venting and he realised that the thought of staying like this did sound pretty appealing. 

Bumblebee opened his optics again and looked up at Blitzwing who was currently looking out into the hallway, seemingly deep in thought. 

Bumblebee absently started observing him.

He started taking in Blitzwing's features, his paint had been scratched in several places and he had a few large dents that appeared to be in the process of healing. With every second and every new observation he made Bumblebee felt his spark start beating faster until finally his optics made their way to Blitzwing's faceplate. His lips were pressed together grimly and his one optic didn't appear to actually be seeing what was in front of him, like he was zoomed out and lost in thoughts. Bumblebee glanced back at Blitzwing's lips and stopped. It felt like he couldn't look away as his spark started pulsating quickly in its chamber, he could hear it in his audio receptors and it felt like his spark was trying to burst out of his chest.

Bumblebee forced himself to look away and instead let his optics focus on a dust bunny in a corner of the cell. As his spark slowly returned to normal, Bumblebee frowned in confusion.

_‘What the frag happened? What even was that?’_

Bumblebee didn’t know what he'd just experienced, but It felt like his processor had gone completely blank for a moment there, and why had his spark felt like that?

He didn’t have enough time to figure it out though, as Blitzwing suddenly spoke up.

“Are you alright?” Bumblebee quickly snapped out of his confusion and looked up at Blitzwing. He didn’t know when, but at some point Blitzwing had stopped looking out into the hallway and now he was focused completely on Bumblebee, clear concern in his optics. Bumblebee felt his spark start to pulse quickly again.

“Huh?” Bumblebee responded, still a little dazed.

“You were frowning.” Blitzwing explained. Bumblebee shook his helm and tried to give him a reassuring smile.

“I was just thinking.” Blitzwing continued watching him for a minute before he spoke up again.

“That’s a surprise” Bumblebee cocked his helm to the side.

“What is?” Blitzwing's faceplate switched to Random and his jagged smile seemed to grow extra wide.

“It’s a surprise that you can think, you usually need a processor to do that!” He said, and started laughing hysterically. 

Bumblebee scowled and jabbed his elbow into Blitzwing's leg.

“Oh, shove it up your exhaust pipe Blitzbrain!” He shouted back. He tried to keep glowering at the con, but randoms' amusement was contagious, and soon enough his tank was back to feeling like he had accidentally swallowed a thousand butterflies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That Blitzwing canonically can sculpt gives me life.


	11. Chapter 11

“Hey Blitzwing! Blitzwing! Hey, hey, Blitzwing!” Bumblebee said whilst persistently poking him in the stomach. Blitzwing tried his best to not give the minibot any attention but Bumblebee refused to be ignored so easily. “Blitzwiiiiinnnng!” Bumblebee wailed, over dramatically. Blitzwing finally had enough.

“What!?” Hothead shouted, glaring down at the minibot, who had the audacity to continue lounging against the Decepticons' thighs. A self satisfied smirk stretched across Bumblebee's faceplate at having successfully gained Blitzwing's attention.

“I’m boooooored” He said with a groan.

“Then find something to do and stop bothering me!” Blitzwing yelled at him. 

“But I don’t know what to dooooo” Bumblebee retorted.

“Why don’t you go back to trying to stand on your servos or something,” Bumblebee let out an over exaggerated sigh.

“But I don’t feeeeel like it!” 

“For Primus sake, stop your damned whining! You’re acting like a sparkling!” He finally snapped, beyond frustrated with his incessant complaining. He knew it was boring to be in prison, but you didn't see Blitzwing making a scene out of it. “It's not my job to keep you entertained, so stop whining to me about how bored you are.” Bumblebee let out a huff and started pouting. 

Blitzwing looked down at him and sighed. He was quiet for a moment before he got an idea, allowing his faceplate to switch to Icy.

“I think my bandages are coming loose,” he said. “Can you retie them?” this was not true at all, but if he was lucky, it would keep Bumblebee occupied for a good 5 minutes. Bumblebee dropped his pout almost immediately at the proposal of something to do.

“Sure!” Bumblebee said, as he practically bounced up onto his peds and started to climb up Blitzwing's thighs so he could reach. Bumblebee held himself steady by grabbing onto Blitzwing's upper arm as he started to unwind the first bandage so he could retie it from the start. 

Blitzwing just watched Bumblebee as he unraveled the first of his bandages, though he found his gaze to mainly be focused on the tiny, yellow Autobot.

Because of their vast differences in height, it felt a little strange to actually have their helms be at the same level. Not bad, but still unusual. The closeness reminded Blitzwing of the first time Bumblebee had offered to clean and bandage his wounds, and how Blitzwing had tried to violently shake the minibot off his leg, He also remembered how Bumblebee had thrown his arms around his neck in a desperate attempt to not fall onto the hard concrete floor.

Blitzwing could remember so clearly how it had felt to have Bumblebee's arms around his neck, their chest pressed together and how their faceplates had been so close to each other he could feel the others soft venting on his cheek. Blitzwing remembered every second of it clear as day, though he is uncertain as to why he remembered such insignificant things.

Back then, if they had just been a couple of centimeters closer, they could have- Blitzwing could feel his spark pulse quicken and he immediately put a stop to those thoughts. He then forced his optics to look away from Bumblebee, but almost as soon as he did Blitzwing could feel an odd pang in his spark. It almost felt like disappointment, or perhaps discontent, but either way he had the strong urge to continue observing Bumblebee. Blitzwing didn’t budge though, and continued to stubbornly look away.

Soon enough Bumblebee had gotten all of the bandages off and he let out a small exclamation of surprise. Such a small sound was enough to break Blitzwings' futile attempts to keep his optics to himself and he turned his helm to see what had managed to startle the minibot.

He followed where Bumblebee's optics were looking and noticed that his gaze was locked onto the wrist he had just unwrapped, Blitzwing then understood what had caused Bumblebees' shock.

The wound that had encompassed Blitzwing's left wrist was almost completely healed. It was still scratched and the plating around it was thin, but it appeared to be reaching the final stages of healing.

"Wow! It looks like it's healing really well!" Bumblebee exclaimed with a smile. "It looks like you haven't reopened it for a while at least." Despite the advanced stage of healing, Bumblebee started to rewrap the bandage just to be safe. 

Blitzwing was again pulled into thoughts by what Bumblebee had said. He realised then that he hadn't put any real real effort into escaping his chains for quite a while. He had been so preoccupied with Bumblebee and his antics that he had completely forgotten about escaping his cuffs. That was the weird thing about Bumblebee. He had the power to pull Blitzwing's mind off of things just by speaking, it was like when he spoke Blitzwing couldn't help but listen and he had to admit, if only to himself, that he enjoyed listening to Bumblebee talk.

Listening to the minibot ramble on about nothing, and watching him do stupid stuff like try to stand on his servos, it was nice, and Blitzwing found it actually kept his mind off of the horrible situation they both found themselves in. He also had to begrudgingly admit that if he wasn't tied to a wall, and if he wasn't forced to remain immobile, he wouldn't have minded being stuck with Bumblebee.

Bumblebee finished with the left wrist he had been working on, and started to move over so he could begin working on the right, but suddenly he stopped and just focused intently on Blitzwing's current faceplate. 

Blitzwing didn’t know what had brought on this sudden change and was about to ask if something was amiss when Bumblebee started moving his helm side so side as if looking for something. Blitzwing only felt more bewildered by this and spoke up.

“What are you doing?” He asked, confusion clear in his voice.

Bumblebee just continued to move his helm, but eventually he responded.

“When your faceplates switch, do they go inside your helmet?” He asked. It was then that Blitzwing realised what Bumblebee was doing. He was trying to see if he could catch a glimpse of his other two faceplates under his helmet. Blitzwing's faceplate spun to Hothead.

“Of course they are! Where else would they go?!” Bumblebee stood still for a moment, like he was calculating something. He then slowly lifted his servos up towards Blitzwings helmet and Blitzwing bared his dente. “If you try to lift my helmet to check, I’ll bite your servos off.” Bumblebee stopped moving his servos towards Blitzwing and instead crossed them over his chest and pouted.

“ I wasn't going to!” Bumblebee huffed, but it was obvious to Blitzwing that he was lying. 

Bumblebees pout didn’t stay for long though as something else seemed to catch his attention.

“Hey! you still haven’t told me how the switching thing works.” He said, excited that he might have found something to keep the boredom at bay. “Will you tell me about it now?” 

Blitzwing went quiet for a long moment as he thought it over.

He still wasn't comfortable talking to...well anyone about his triple changer augmentation. He didn’t like thinking about the topic or the things surrounding it. Bad memory fluxes were always just a skip away when his weird triple changer biology was brought up.

However, he also understood that Bumblebees curiosity was justified. People tended to be interested in the strange or abnormal, and with Blitzwing being a triple changer he was used to the stares. The topic of his upgrade was almost always met with either curiosity and interest or fear and disgust, and honestly Blitzwing was just glad Bumblebee was of the former rather than the latter.

He took a moment to deliberate over the pros and cons of talking about this with Bumblebee; before he finally let out a sigh, his mind made up.

He might as well answer _some_ of Bumblebees' questions, otherwise the minibot would just continue to bug him about it for the remainder of their stay here. However Blitzwing wasn't going to tell Bumblebee everything, he could tell him some of the more basic stuff, but he planned to keep the more personal things to himself. Also, he could just refuse to answer if he changed his mind or if Bumblebee started poking at things he didn’t want to discuss.

“Fine, I’ll answer _some_ of your questions.” He huffed. Bumblebee's faceplate immediately lit up at the prospect of getting answers, Blitzwing felt his spark skip at the minibots excitement, but he chose to ignore it. “But listen well because I am _not_ going to repeat myself!” He growled.

Bumblebee nodded hastily, anticipation clear in his optics.

Blitzwing sighed again and his faceplate switched back to Icy. He wasn't even sure where to begin. He finally decided to start by answering the last question Bumblebee had asked, about his faceplates, and If he was really one, or three people.

“Okay, so like I've told you before, there is only one mech inside my helm, and that's me. I am not three mechs sharing one frame, no matter what faceplate I currently have, I always have the same memories, the same morals and the same thoughts. I am always me, like you are always you, no matter which faceplate I am currently speaking from” Bumblebee looked at him with a thoughtful expression and asked,

“If you aren’t three mechs inside one frame, then what is the switching about?” Blitzwing was quiet as he thought of a reply. That was a more difficult question to answer, so he took a moment as he thought of how best to explain. 

“The switching is triggered by my thoughts and feelings,” He started. “It happens naturally, I suppose it would be comparable to how when you are happy you laugh, or when you are sad you cry. It’s just a physical response to what I feel. I'm afraid that is the best explanation I can give.”

Bumblebee nodded, showing he was following what Blitzwing had said so far. He then gave Blitzwing's faceplate a penetrating stare and started moving his helm side to side again to see if he could catch a glimpse of one of Blitzwings' other two faceplates.

“So which faceplate is your original one?” Bumblebee finally asked. Blitzwing shook his helm.

“None of them are, all three are new to this frame.” Bumblebee just stared at him as he tried to think of a new question. After a moment it looked like he'd settled on something as Bumblebee then started speaking again.

“Then which of your alt modes is your original one?” He asked, still just as curiously. “Were you a flyer, or a grounder before you became a triple changer?” Blitzwing was quiet for a while after that, he was pretty convinced that if he answered that question truthfully, he'd be opening the door for many more questions that would likely walk the edge of too personal.

He studied Bumblebee for a minute, looking at his expectant expression and finally gave in.

“I was a seeker before my upgrade, so I had a flight altmode” As Blitzwing had expected Bumblebee's optics widened, and he proceeded to gawk at him.

“You were a seeker?! Like Starscream?!” Blitzwing's faceplate switched near instantaneously to Hothead.

“Don’t _ever_ lump me together with Starscream.” He growled. “But yes, I was a seeker...like Starscream.”

Bumblebee seemed to think deeply about Blitzwings answer; before he frowned in what seemed to be confusion.

“Hold on,” He said. “You said that you didn’t have any friends or anyone that cared about you in your faction, right?" Blitzwing was a bit caught off guard by this question, but he did nod in agreement.

"Yes I did"

"But if you used to be a seeker...Then where is your trine? Wouldn't they care that you were missing and wouldn't you care about them?” 

Blitzwing was completely silent as his processor worked through what Bumblebee had just said. The question was so light hearted, there was no malice or ill intent behind it, but it made Blitzwing's spark squirm with old pain and he felt his rage flare, as if Bumblebee had just thrown a match into a canister of gasoline. Without any hesitation he allowed his rage to take hold.

“That’s none of your business bug!” he yelled, his voice was like a dagger, sharp and merciless, the friendly tone they had adopted when they usually spoke to each other went up in flames and in its place was a dangerous tone filled with venom. 

Bumblebee's previous curiosity vanished into thin air, and transformed into, not exactly fear, but he was caught off guard by the sudden shift in tone. The return of the old impersonal nickname was also a shock as he'd gotten used to Blitzwing calling him by his actual name.

The room went painfully silent, you could hear a pin drop. Neither mech moved for a while both unsure how to continue. Bumblebee just looked at him for a good while before the minibot got an almost imperceptible look of sadness on his faceplate. His gaze finally dropped and he stepped off of Blitzwing's legs without a word. 

He didn't lay down like he had before, instead deciding to just sit next to Blitzwing with about 1 foot of space between them.

“I’m sorry” Bumblebee let it be after that. To Blitzwings' surprise Bumblebee sounded...genuine. There was no snark, none of his teasing and he didn't even appear to be interested in pushing the subject further. He sounded like he was genuinely sorry. If he was sorry for asking, or if he was sorry for making him upset, Blitzwing couldn't say, but seeing Bumblebee look so sad set something off inside Blitzwing. 

It...hurt. Seeing Bumblebee sad, and knowing that it was Blitzwings' fault hurt more. He actually felt guilty. He had screamed at Bumblebee and done worse things in the past, but most of those outbursts had happened at the beginning of their imprisonment, Blitzwing had felt nothing back then, but this time it was different. He felt guilty, ashamed almost. This was honestly a huge surprise as Blitzwing hadn’t felt anything like this for a long time. He had almost forgotten what it felt like to regret screaming at someone, to actually feel distressed that he might have hurt someones feelings. Blitzwing allowed himself some time to calm down and his faceplate cycled back to Icy.

“Don’t be sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you," he let out a sigh, "I’m sorry.” It felt rather odd to apologize, especially to an Autobot, but despite how offbalence it made him feel he honestly meant every word. He actually felt remorseful and saying it out loud made him feel a bit better, not by much but it at least it felt like he had done the right thing.

Bumblebee stared at him with wide optics. He looked astonished and just a bit confused. 

“No, I shouldn’t have snooped around.” Blitzwing shook his helm, deciding he wouldn't allow Bumblebee to blame himself for this, not when it was his own short temper that had caused him to lash out.

“How could you have predicted how I'd react to that question? I shouldn’t have yelled. I should have just told you it was personal, and I’m sorry” That was two sorrys in one day, he was surprised Megatron himself hadn't popped out to stab him in the throat for saying such thing to an Autobot. Nothing happened for a while, but suddenly Bumblebees smiled, he closed the distance between them and reclaimed his spot as he sprawled over Blitzwing's thighs.

Blitzwing didn't know why but he felt a warm bubble of happiness when Bumblebee chose to press their frames back together.

“Apology accepted.” Bumblebee said still grinning up at him.

* * *

Both of them didn’t say anything for a while after that. The cell had gone silent again and Bumblebee couldn't stand it, but he didn’t want to chance saying anything else either, his surge of curiosity was momentarily stifled after Blitzwing's outburst. The silence was finally broken when, seemingly out of nowhere, Blitzwing spoke up.

“They are gone.” He said softly, though it sounded more like he was leaving it in the air rather than actually talking to Bumblebee. “They both went offline during the war.” The room suddenly felt much colder after Blitzwing had finished speaking. Bumblebee just tried to come to terms with the sudden information he'd been given. 

“Oh,” Bumblebee said, quietly “I’m sorry for your loss.” He had no idea what else he could say. How do you even respond to being told something like that? 

Blitzwing looked down at Bumblebee.

“It's kind of ironic, don’t you think? " His faceplate switching to Random, "An Autobot saying they're sorry that some Decepticons got offlined during the war!” He said, trying to shine some light on just how absurd Bumblebee's response actually was. 

“I suppose it is,” Bumblebee admitted. “But that doesn't mean I don’t mean it.” Blitzwing's faceplate showed momentary shock before he switched back to Icy and he looked away. Bumblebee let the conversation die after that.

He felt at a loss for what to do in this situation. Bumblebee didn't know if he should change the subject, be quiet, or continue the conversation, and risk stepping on another nerve. He had no clue how to proceed, so he decided to go with his first instinct which was what his spark said was right.

“Are you okay?” He said slowly, his voice drenched with concern. Blitzwing gave a half hearted shrug.

“My trine joined the well of allsparks long ago. It doesn't bother me as much anymore, I've moved on," Bumblebee nodded in acknowledgement. There was something in Blitzwing's tone that betrayed him though. There was an edge to Blitzwing's voice that seemed to hint that it hadn't been quite so easy to move past their deaths as he made it sound, or if the triple changer had even managed to do so at all after all this time. Bumblebee felt it wasn't his place to point that out though.

Bumblebee had been lucky enough to never lose anyone close to him, so he had no chance of understanding how Blitzwing felt. However, you didn’t need to be a genius to sympathize with how horrible it must have been.

It sounded especially awful because it seemed as if Blitzwing had actually liked his trine and had considered them close friends, and now in the present day, he'd stated he had no such relationships. Meaning that there was a high probability that his trine had been all he'd had, and now Blitzwing had been left without anyone.

Bumblebee felt his spark twist in sympathetic pain. He could only imagine how awful he would feel if all of his teammates went offline and he was the only survivor.

Bumblebee also now understood what Blitzwings’ outburst in the maze had been about. Bumblebee had been poking at old wounds and when Blitzwing had told him to stop he had just continued. He had, without knowing it, reminded Blitzwing of the death of his trine. 

Well, in Bumblebee's defence he hadn't known that was what he was doing. Blitzwing wasn't exactly a master at explaining himself, but Bumblebee did feel a little bad about forcing Blitzwing to remember such unpleasant things.

He suddenly felt an intense urge to comfort Blitzwing, to tell him that everything was going to be okay, to hold the triple changer close until he felt better, but Bumblebee wasn't sure Blitzwing would appreciate, or even accept that kind comfort .

So Bumblebee swallowed thickly as he tried to curb his urge to give comfort, and instead, tried to focus on thinking up an appropriate response. He didn't feel right leaving the subject, and Blitzwing, as they were right now.

“I have to admit I don’t know a lot about trines,” Bumblebee started softly. “But couldn’t you join another one? Or join some kind of substitute? Not because I think you should replace your old teammates or anything, but just, maybe find some way to make new friends?” Bumblebee was a little bit worried Blitzwing would be offended, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

Blitzwing just slowly shook his helm.

“It’s like I told you in the maze. I don’t trust other Decepticons,” His faceplate switched to Random and he laughed.

“And even if I did, who would want to befriend the freak with three faceplates anyway?” Blitzwing said closely followed by another outburst of laughter. 

There was something to the way he had said that last part that didn’t sit right with Bumblebee. It was clear he was laughing it off but Bumblebee couldn’t help but to think that what Blitzwing had said he actually believed.

It was like he was saying that nobody caring about him or wanting to interact with him was the norm, a simple fact that he had readily accepted. The idea that it was completely justified to not care about him, if only because he was a triple changer, seemed to be a regular thing.

“I think your faceplates are cool.” _‘Slag’_ , Bumblebee hadn't meant to say that out loud. He hadn’t actually given much thought to Blitzwings' faceplates more than just being curious about how they worked, but now that he had said it, he realised it was true. He didn't think Blitzwing's switching was freaky, disturbing or whatever else Blitzwing seemed to be getting at, It was a bit unusual, sure, but it wasn't inherently bad.

Blitzwings expression changed, Random who was currently in control, lost his smile as his expression wilted, it looked like he'd been taken off guard by the compliment. He just stared at Bumblebee, as if waiting for him to add something, when Bumblebee didn’t say anything else his faceplate switched to Icy, his startled expression morphing into something more dubious.

“You do?” He sounded _very_ skeptical. 

“Yeah,” Bumblebee confirmed. “I think it’s unique, nobody else has it. So that makes it cool” That caused Blitzwing to get a look of contemplation as he thought deeply. He looked a little conflicted. Bumblebee started to worry he'd said something to upset Blitzwing again, and quickly spoke up. “Is something wrong?” Bumblebee asked. Blitzwing snapped out of whatever he was thinking about, and completely ignored Bumblebee's question and decided to ask one of his own instead.

“You don’t think my faceplates are an abomination?” Bumblebee shook his helm, looking almost offended.

“No. Why would I think that?” He asked in surprise. “Sure I've never seen anyone else have three faceplates or whatever, but that just makes it neat. You've got some variety, you know? I don’t know who told you that, but I promise your faceplates are not abominations, and if you couldn't already tell I don’t share their opinions, I like them.” Blitzwing just stared at him for a long time, it looked like he was honestly shocked.

Bumblebee kicked himself for that last comment. _‘’I like them!?’ Why, in Primus name did I add that part?!’_

At Least 3 minutes had gone by and it looked like Blitzwing was still thinking something over. Bumblebee couldn’t take the silence anymore so he spoke up again.

“Did I say something wrong?” _‘Yes! You gave him, like two compliments in the span of 5 minutes!’_ He berated himself.

Blitzwing snapped out of it and shook his helm. Then something amazing happened. He looked right at Bumblebee. His optics had that soft look again, and there was that same warmth Bumblebee had seen before, only this time instead of a small flicker, it was a full blown bonfire. Bumblebee felt mesmerised just looking into them.

“No, it’s just…” Blitzwing paused like he was deciding if he should even say the next part. “You’re the first one too ever like it,” And then it happened. Icy’s lips turned upwards into a small smile. Not a manipulating one, not a snarky or malicious one, not even a smirk. It was a genuine, soft smile. One which only came from happiness.

It was just a smile, not even a very big one at that, but it set something in motion.

It felt like a seed had been planted in Bumblebee’s spark and was only now just starting to grow. He felt as if it were spreading throughout every part of his frame, bringing that strange warmth to every place it touched.

It felt like the rest of the world had started to fade. Their cell no longer existed, even the coldness of the room that had made him so miserable, was washed away and he could feel himself being washed away with it, as if all of his perceptions had to be put on hold to make way for this blooming of this new emotion. 

Everything faded into white noise, everything except the smiling triple changer in front of him. It was like nothing else mattered, like everything in the world was dull and gray in comparison to Blitzwing's happiness, like the world had started to fade out because it knew it couldn’t possibly compare. 

Everything that Bumblebee had considered warmth couldn’t compare to the feeling inside his spark when he saw Blitzwing's smile. 

His spark was beating so fast inside his chest it felt like it might burst out of its casing at any moment. He found he had trouble venting enough air, as if the room they existed in had been turned into a vacuum. He was oddly okay with it.

He wished that they could stay like this forever, he'd just lay on Blitzwings lap, just looking at him as he smiled. 

But the weirdly tranquil moment with its almost magical warm fog came crashing down when suddenly Bltizwings smile fell and he went back to his neutral expression. Bumblebee didn’t like it. He didn't know why but he had an intense desire to make Blitzwing smile like that again, to be the one that made him happy.

“Bumblebee?” Bumblebee took a moment just to get air back into his vents, it felt like he had been holding his breath.

“Wh-what?” He asked, his processor still feeling rather muddled, like his thoughts were moving though syrup. 

“Are you okay?” Blitzwing asked. “You've been staring at me for a while without saying anything” Bumblebee immediately averted his optics and coughed.

“Yeah I'm alright, I just uh…” He tried to come up with some sort of explanation for his odd behaviour, but his mind kept drawing blanks. “I was just-just…” he coughed again and tried to compose himself. “I've just never seen you smile when you’re on Icy before.” Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge.

“You've seen me smile before,” _‘No, I haven’t. Not like that,'_ Bumblebee thought, but decided it would probably be best to keep that to himself. “Yeah, I guess you're right” Bumblebee answered instead, still appearing somewhat dazed. Blitzwing looked worried.

“Are you sure you’re okay? You look hot,” 

“W-what?!”Bumblebee hastily blurted out. Blitzwing rolled his optics.

“Your faceplate is turning pink.” Bumblebee immediately raised his servos and pressed them to his cheeks and noticed they were burning. “Are you sick?” Blitzwing asked, a slight hint of worry to his usually monotonous voice. Bumblebee tried to give him a smirk.

“I’m only sick if you mean it in the cool way. Then I’m totally sick,” Bumblebee said, pointing finger guns. He knew that it was a terrible comeback but it was the best he could come up with under these circumstances. Blitzwing just rolled his optics again.

“Just don’t spread whatever sickness you've got to me.” Bumblebee should have said something witty in response, but his processor was still running at a low gear.

' _What was that? What was I feeling? And what in the name of Primus just happened?!'_ Bumblebee couldn't wrap his mind around it. The experience he had just had, had been twelve different kinds of weird, but it was also one of the most fantastic experiences in his entire life. It had felt so good and he honestly wouldn't mind doing it again. 

He glanced up at Blitzwing, and he could feel that same warmth from last time, it wasn't nearly as strong as when Blitzwing had been smiling at him, but it was still there. Weaker perhaps, but still very much there. Bumblebee could still feel the warmth inside his chest, that same happiness and near magnetic pull towards the triple changer, he could feel it all so clearly now.

Bumblebee didn't understand what the feeling was at first, but slowly, as his processor started working through the strange phenomenon, he began to slowly understand what had taken place. 

_‘Oh’_ . He didn’t want to believe it. ’ _Oh no.’_ But even though he had never actually felt it before now, he knew exactly what this feeling was. Now that he knew, the odd way his spark had been acting made sense. ' _Oh, frag.’_ He was in love.


	12. Chapter 12

Bumblebee may have currently been out fighting in the arena, as was the usual, but inside his mind he might as well have been thousands of miles away.

He had been in a state of shock since yesterday, and his mind was only now just starting to process through the implications of his discovery. He didn't know how to feel or what to think, he had never been in a situation even close to one like this before and it had made his mind turn into complete chaos.

_‘It can’t be possible! It just can’t! I can’t be in-in-in love with a con!’_ Bumblebee thought a bit frantically. He couldn’t have fallen in love with Blitzwing! Autobots weren't supposed to have any positive relationships with Decepticons! They were supposed to hate them! Be disgusted by them, and probably the most important thing of all, they were at war with them! Loving a con wasn't even on the map, it was taboo!

Sure Blitzwing and him had become allies out of necessity, but that didn't change the fact that once they got out of this place They would have to go back to the status quo. They'd both have to act like this never happened, and just go back to where they left off, on opposite sides of the war.

Bumblebee felt an intense feeling of sadness snake its way into his spark at the thought of that. The thought of seeing Blitzwing hurt in battle, the thought of Bumblebee having to be the one to hurt him, the thought of Blitzwing being captured by Autobots and put into another cell after he'd already confided in Bumblebee how much he hated feeling trapped. 

_‘Who's going to take care of him then when I'm not there anymore?’_ Bumblebee shook his helm and berated himself. _‘No! You’re supposed to be happy at the thought of him being captured! Not sad or concerned! All it would mean is there'd be one less Decepticon to worry about! So stop being sad about that stuff! Be happy, be happy Primus damn it!'_ Bumblebee thought frantically as if he could command his feelings to stop making him feel bad about Blitzwings' possible misfortune. 

Unfortunately, his spark wouldn't listen. It just kept making him feel distressed at the idea of having to fight Blitzwing and seeing him imprisoned against his will. Bumblebee cursed his spark for betraying him and his expression turned into a scowl, as he clinched his servos in defiance. 

He was immediately pulled out of his thoughts though, when he heard a sharp scream.

“Bumblebee!” Bumblebee snapped to attention at the shout of his name. He turned towards the direction of the noise and saw Blitzwing was looking at him, trying to get his attention. 

Bumblebee felt his spark pulse speed up and that only made him angrier.

“What?!” Bumblebee yelled back, not even caring to hide his irritation.

“Look ou-!” But Blitzwing never had a chance to finish his warning, because the very next second Bumblebee felt something hard hit him in the back of the helm.

His vision went white, as static rang in his audio receptors, the pain spreading throughout his helm and down his neck.

He fell to his knees, grabbing his helm in pain, as he tried to reset his optics in an attempt to clear his vision. He then turned his helm, just in time to see that the robot that had sucker punched him was now gearing up for another attack.

But it never got the chance, because before its fist could connect with Bumblebee's faceplate it was violently kicked almost halfway across the arena, a cloud of sand being kicked up when it landed.

Bumblebee looked up at his saviour and saw Blitzwing standing in front of him, his current Hothead persona looking absolutely livid. He finally turned away from the damaged robot and turned his gaze down to look at Bumblebee. Blitzwing's faceplate then switched to Icy, his single optic full of concern as he kneeled down so he could inspect him.

“Are you okay?” He asked. Bumblebee rubbed the back of his helm, it still hurt like the pit but he was going to be fine. 

“I'm alright.” Blitzwing nodded before his faceplate switched over to Random.

“The arena is no place to stand around daydreaming!” He said, with a giggle. Blitzwing's optics then turned back towards the robot he had kicked away and noticed that not only had it survived, but it was currently attempting to right itself. His optics narrowed dangerously. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.” He sing songed merrily, despite the edge of rage in his voice.

He stood up and began making his way towards the robot, each of his steps making a loud threatening thud that reverberate throughout the arena. When he arrived next to the robot, it was still on the ground twitching, it seemed Blitzwing's kick had damaged some of its circuits, making it unable to stand back up.

Blitzwing lifted his ped and stomped down on top of the robot over and over again, until Bumblebee was pretty sure, not even a single screw would be salvageable. Even, when it was just a twisted heap of scrap metal Blitzwing still gave it a few extra stomps for good measure.

Bumblebee sometimes forgot just how dangerous Blitzwing could be when he wanted. It often didn’t seem that way when he regularly let Bumblebee just lounge around in his lap, or tease him, so Bumblebee's mind often let it slip just how powerful Blitzwing really was.

Bumblebee couldn’t help but be a little impressed by Blitzwing's strength, other Autobots would probably be concerned about being trapped with such a powerhouse of a con but Bumblebee could only bring himself to be in awe and he actually found the show of raw strength to be rather exciting. 

Bumblebee felt his spark pulse quicken again, despite vehemently willing it to stop, it didn’t help matters that Blitzwing's show of strength had seemingly been to punish the robot that had hurt him. The idea of Blitzwing trying to protect Bumblebee, and actively attempting to look out for him, just made the fluttering in his tank all the worse.

When it looked like Blitzwing was finally satisfied with his utter annihilation of the robot, his faceplate swapped back to Icy and he made his way back towards the injured minibot.

Bumblebee had been so distracted by Blitzwings' fight, if you could even call that a fight, that he hadn’t even made an attempt to get back to his peds. So when Blitzwing had once again made his way over he leaned down and offered Bumblebee a servo to help him up.

Once Bumblebee accepted it Blitzwing closed his own armored servo and pulled him up to his peds. His grasp was strong, but ever so gentle, almost like he was afraid that if he held on any tighter he would hurt Bumblebee. 

Despite the slow ascent, Bumblebee was soon standing upright again and without seeming to be any worse for wear, so did Blitzwing still looked rather concerned.

“Are you sure you are okay?” He repeated. Bumblebee didn't reply immediately, he was more focused on the servo holding his own, as he came to the realization that he didn’t want to let go. He liked the feeling of their servos clasped together, it was like a puzzle piece had finally been found, and the whole picture was coming together at last. It felt good, like Bumblebee and Blitzwings servos were just meant to be held together.

But as soon as those wonderful feelings floated to the surface Bumblebee realized what he was doing and violently yanked his servo out of their shared grip.

“I’m fine! Stop fussing over me, I can take care of myself!” He hissed, it might have been a bit uncalled but he honestly couldn’t bring himself to care.

Blitzwing narrowed his optics before his faceplate was overtaken by Random.

“Unlikely!” He teased, Bumblebee glared at him and gave an annoyed huff in response.

The loud speakers sprung to life and Master DIsaster's cheery voice rang in the otherwise quiet of the arena.

“As the battle is over, all contestants may now return to their humble abode!” He said, like he was insinuating their cold, damp, dusty concrete prison was some sort of 5 star hotel.

Blitzwing and Bumblebee shared a glance, showing what they both shared the same thought of _that statement_ : _'This fraggin' jackass.'_

But despite their _immense_ dislike for Master Disaster, they did voluntarily return to their cell.

Soon enough, the feeder robot delivered their daily barrels of oil, which they both drank ravenously; However, after Bumblebee had finished his one barrel, he became aware of a bit of a predicament. 

Should he, or should he not go over to Blitzwing again? 

The butterflies in his fuel tank always felt much stronger when he was in close proximity to Blitzwing, which was the exact opposite of what Bumblebee wanted, he didn't want that feeling there at all if he could help it, but if he stayed away he'd have to deal with being cold.

He pondered it over for a moment before he decided to make his way over to Blitzwing anyway. Bumblebee begrudgingly threw himself across the triple changers lap in his usual way, as he tried to convince himself that he wasn't doing it because he liked being close to Blitzwing or anything. Bumblebee was only cozying up to the Decepticon because it was a lot more comfortable than being cold on the opposite side of the cell.

Bumblebee was quiet as he thought it over, before he started talking to fill the silence, 

“Hey Blitz” Bumblebee called out. Blitzwing looked down at him with a slightly confused expression on his faceplate. “Thanks for the save back there” He continued, but Blitzwing's apparent befuddlement didn't abate.

“What did you say?” He asked. Bumblebee rolled his optics, thinking Blitzwing was just fishing for another thank you.

“I said, thank you for dealing with that robot.” Blitzwing shook his helm.

“No, before that, what did you call me?” Bumblebee cocked his helm to the side.

“Blitz?” Bumblebee repeated. Blitzwing nodded in confirmation.

“You called me Blitz?” He said, still sounding slightly confused. 

“Yeah, is there something wrong with it?” Bumblebee asked. Blitzwing quickly shook his helm.

“No, nothings wrong with it, I just don't understand why.” 

“Well” Bumblebee started. “Blitzwing is a pretty long name, you know, and I give most people I meet nicknames. Like I always call Optimus boss bot and Bulkhead ends up being called Bulk or Bulky.” He explained. Blitzwing's lip plates quirked up into a small smirk.

“I thought ‘Blitzbrain’ was my nickname.” He said in a dry tone, but there was a hint of amusement that bled through. Bumblebee got a smirk of his own before he responded.

“I can still call you that if you're being a pain in the aft” He said whilst grinning up the Decepticon. Blitzwing just rolled his optics. Bumblebee continued, “If you want you can call me Bee, all my other friends do.” It looked like Blitzwing was processing what Bumblebee had just said, before he seemed to pick up on something and smirked down at him.

“Does that mean you consider me your friend?” Bumblebee felt his spark stop beating for a second as he realised what he had just said. ‘ _All my other friends do_ ’ he'd basically just implied that he considered Blitzwing a part of that category, Bumblebee quickly tried to refute what he'd just inadvertently revealed.

“No I didn’t- I mean- I just-” Bumblebee stammered as he tried to figure out what to say. Blitzwing faceplate switched to Random and Bumblebee realized he was about to make this situation so much worse.

“No?” He said, his jagged grin only growing wider. “If we aren't friends, but you let me call you Bee, does that mean we're actually… besties!?” He exclaimed, sounding super excited about this revelation. Bumblebee knew Blitzwing was only pulling his leg, but he couldn’t help but give him an actual response.

“No! Sari and Bulkhead are my best friends! you're my- my- my…” _‘Ally? Enemy? Friend? Crush?_ ’ all of those titles were technically accurate, but his mind couldn’t decide which he actually wanted to address Blitzwing as. He knew which title his spark had chosen, but he had already come to the conclusion that his spark didn’t know _what_ _the frag it was doing_ , and had decided it was best to just tune the dumb thing out.

Thankfully, he was saved from having to come up with a response, when Blitzwing switched back to Icy and took mercy on him.

“You don’t need to get so worked up” He said, a smirk still adorning his lips, “I’m just messing with you” Bumblebee shot him a glare, which Blitzwing paid it no mind to, “And either way I think I will just keep calling you Bumblebee. I haven’t called you by your real designation very long, that it feels a bit counter productive to start calling you by a nickname again.” Bumblebee scowled up at him.

“Calling me ‘bug’ and ‘Autobot’ do not count as nicknames!” Bumblebee argued.

"Same, same but different,” Blitzwing responded teasingly. Bumblebee let out a huff and crossed his arms over his chest, Blitzwing was quiet for a moment before he again met optics with Bumblebee, that soft look was back and Bumblebee could feel his spark melt a little, “I think your name has quite a nice ring to it, I prefer it in its entirety.”

Bumblebee just stared at the other mech as he felt cheeks warm with hot energon and he forced himself to look away. After that the cell went silent, but Bumblebee's thoughts were loud as ever.

His spark was pulsing and his cheeks were burning and on the inside he was screaming. He just wanted to bang his helm into a wall.

_‘Of all the mechs you could have chosen, you chose_ Blitzwing _for me to fall in love with?!’_ He thought angrily, feeling absolutely furious at this turn of events.

Bumblebee wasn't sure where he was even directing his anger, at Himself? His spark? His feelings? Primus? He didn’t know who had suddenly decided to make him feel this way about Blitzwing, but whoever it was, he had a serious bone to pick with them.

_‘You couldn't have picked an easy mech for me to like could you?! Not an Autobot or even someone neutral?! Nope, you had to choose a Deception! And not some nobody either! Oh, no that would have been too easy for me wouldn't it?! No, you had to choose Blitzwing. The three faced triple changer who's one of Megatron's top lieutenants!’_

Bumblebee made the mistake of looking up again and caught a glimpse of Blitzwings faceplate, and he could feel that fluttering feeling startup all over again. Immediately he looked away.

_‘Stop doing that! Stop it with the butterflies in my tank! He's a Deception and I’m an Autobot! The Deceptiocns is against everything we Autobots stand for! It won't work! It won't pan out! He won't love me back!’_

It felt like someone had stabbed him in the spark when he thought that last part, and all at once he was overcome with an intense feeling of sorrow. Bumblebee then realised he had hurt his own feelings by thinking about Blitzwing not return his feelings, and Bumblebee went back to feeling angry at himself. He absolutely hated this. He felt so angry that he wanted Blitzwing to feel the same way he did.

He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. His rational mind was telling him the best thing he could do was to just ignore any feelings he had for Blitzwing until they went away, but his spark was encouraging him to stay as close to Blitzwing as possible. He was at war with himself and the constant internal struggle just made Bumblebee feel exhausted.

He let out sigh.

_‘He won't love me back.’_ He thought again, the anger having burned itself out, and his inner voice turned more pleading than anything; as if, he could convince the source of these unwanted feelings that his love was hopeless. 

_‘He's not going to reciprocate my feelings and if I ever confessed he'd probably just laugh at me. I know on the surface it looks like he cares about me, but I know that's not true, the only reason he's not treating me like an enemy is because of our pact. ‘_

_‘He'll try to offline me the first chance he gets when we both escape.'_ Bumblebee tried to recall memories of all the violent encounters they'd had before their kidnapping, all the times they'd fought and how Blitzwing had tried to offline him and his team on numerous occasions, but all those bad memories kept being pushed aside by memories of when Blitzwing had saved him, or that time they had talked about Cybertron, and even when Blitzwing had let Bumblebee recharge next to him for warmth. Bumblebee tried to push those happy moments back and get back on track, but they kept rising to the forefront of his processor.

_'Blitzwing and me could never be a thing! I won't let it happen!...So just, pick someone else! Anyone else! Please stop feeling this way, once we get out of here we'll both have to go back to being enemies again. And I don’t know if I'll have the strength to fight him as his enemy and love him at the same time.'_

Bumblebee didn’t do anything after that train of thought faded. The minibot just laid there and stared at the floor. It felt like he was waiting for something to happen, like after all of his thinking something would change or just click into place. Just his luck though, no such thing happened, and finally Bumblebee turned back towards Blitzwing, hoping that maybe all the bargaining he'd done in his mind would have paid off, and the feelings he'd developed for the big mech will have miraculously disappeared. 

But as soon as he laid optics on the triple changer the same warm fluttery feeling was back and the feelings of dread and sorrow seemed to evaporate as if they had never been. In an almost out of body experience Bumblebee felt himself focus the Blitzwing's lips and found it impossible to look away, he felt a strong urge to just stand up on Blitzwing's thighs, throw his arms around the triple changer's neck, and pull him into a- He forced a hard stop to those types of thoughts and instead tried to will his spark to stop pulsing so fast as he was overtaken by a feeling of yearning.

It was about that time that Bumblebee realised just how deep he was in this mess, he tried frantically to come up with a solution to his predicament when finally an idea popped into his processor.

Maybe he was only feeling like this because Blitzwing was his only source of companionship in this place, he was the only person Bumblebee got to talk to anymore, so maybe he was just going stir crazy? That was a possibility, right? Bumblebee didn’t quite believe that theory himself and inside he knew he was probably just looking for excuses, but he was going to hold onto the slim hope that these “feelings” weren't permanent. He might not actually be in love! his spark was just confused, that was all! There was no way he could be in love with a Decepticon. So that had to be what this was!

However, that meant that if he ever wanted these feelings to stop, he'd have to get out, but how? That was the real question. He let his optics drift to different parts of the cell, but no new escape plans arose. He couldn’t do a repeat of his last escape plan, and Master Disaster had already insured that this cell was pretty much escape proof.

He tried to think of and idea and a possible way of escape, before it finally came to him like a flash of lightning.

He just needed to think outside the box! the box obviously being this cell. Slowly something resembling a plan came to him, He frowned. He didn’t like it, not one bit. It would be dangerous and he only had like, the first two steps planned out, but he hoped that improvisation would be able to carry him the rest of the way, it hadn't worked out with his last escape plan, but maybe the second time was the charm? Or however the human saying went.

His plan was terrible if not outright dangerous, he wasn’t so blind as to not see that, but he was also feeling beyond desperate at this point, and desperate times called for desperate measures.

He was silent for such a long time trying to map out his plan better, that he completely forgot about the mech whose lap he was laying on, until out of the blue, Blitzwing started talking,

“Is something wrong?” He asked. Bumblebee snapped out of his thoughts and peered up at him in confusion.

“Huh?”

“You were frowning and you haven’t said anything for almost twenty minutes,” His faceplate switched to Random. “I didn’t think it was even possible for you to be quiet that long!” He said and let out a laugh. 

Bumblebee would probably under better circumstances make a joke in return or say something in kind, but that just reminded him of how familiar he had gotten with this Decepticon and instead his scowl only deepened, the added notion of Blitzwing being concerned with his continued silence only made him angrier.

“I can be quiet if I want to be! If you want to listen to someone constantly talk, you should get a fragging radio!” He growled. 

Blitzwing looked surprised by the outburst, clearly not expecting Bumblebee to reply so angrily. His faceplate quickly switched to Hothead and he shouted back.

“What crawled up your tailpipe?!” He snapped. Bumblebee just growled and turned away from him as he continued to brood. 

Bumblebee caught Blitzwing looking confused out of the corner of his optics, but neither of them said anything else to each other and the cell descended into silence. 

It started making Bumblebee feel very uncomfortable, he couldn't stand how quiet it was and his desire to talk only grew but he forced that urge back, as he was quiet for once in his life. It didn't help matters that he kept seeing Blitzwing steal glances down at him with that same look of uncertainty.

Bumblebee knew that Blitzwing could tell that _something_ was amiss, but it also didn't seem like he was going to push Bumblebee for an explanation and Bumblebee was glad for that, because to be honest, he didn’t know how he would even begin to explain his rude behavior and surly temperament. Bumblebee knew he couldn’t go with an outright lie because Blitzwing was far too good at catching him when he did so, and there was no way he could tell the truth, so at this point he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

After no new topic of conversation was broached after a long while, Blitzwing's venting started to slow. Bumblebee glanced up at him and saw that he'd leaned back against the wall he was attached to and fallen into recharge. Bumblebee just stared at him, it seemed a bit early to fall into recharge, but with nothing else going on it was pretty boring and Bumblebee had to admit that recharging sounded like a good way to escape that boredom. 

Bumblebee figured that he might as well try to recharge as well, he would need all the energy he could get for his escape attempt tomorrow. He closed his optic as he made himself comfortable on Blitzwing thighs and tried to fall into recharge as well, but as soon as he did, he heard a familiar whirr of noise and he peeked back up at Blitzwing with a single optic.

His faceplate was currently on Random, but suddenly they switched back to Hothead, then Icy, then Hothead again and soon enough so was Blitzwings faceplate nothing more than a blur of color and noise as they continued spinning round and round.

Bumblebee just watched for a while as the familiar nightmare took hold of Blitzwing and his faceplate was reduced to a hazy smear of blue, red and black only to suddenly stop on one and then start all over again. Bumblebee had gotten pretty used to the noise at this point, as long as he didn't try to actively listen to it he could usually just tune it out as white noise. 

Bumblebee just stared at the violent switching as his thoughts started to drift. He still didn't know what Blitzwing dreamed about, his only clue was that it had to be something really horrifying and it seemed super stressful for Blitzwing, it was a nightmare after all. Bumblebee was still pretty curious about what it was about, what could possibly be so awful that it scared a strong and powerful mech like Blitzwing? Whatever held the power to scare a mech that was usually the most and dangerous thing around had to be absolutely terrifying.

Bumblebee hated that Blitzwing had to put up with nightmares every time he went into recharge, as if he didn't have enough to worry about when he was awake, with this whole gladiator prison thing, and on top of that he had been forced to deal with all that other slag as well. Losing his trine, being banished from Cybertron, he didn't deserve to have chronic nightmares added to his plate. Sure he was a Decepticon, and many bots would probably say he deserved it, but Bumblebee couldn't find it in himself to feel that way. Blitzwing didn't deserve all this slag, maybe some of it, but definitely not all at once!

He remembered that Blitzwing hadn't been up for sharing the details of his dream the last time Bumblebee had asked, but they had recently gotten a bit closer, maybe he would give a different answer if Bumblebee asked now? Maybe he would ask Blitzwing again tomorrow. He'd have to be careful though, so he did not accidentally touch any raw nerves, like he'd done with the "Where is your trine?" question.

But his enthusiasm came crashing down when he remembered he'd be escaping tomorrow, he would never get the chance to ask that question or any others, because once he was out of here they'd be enemies again, all those friendly conversations they'd had together would mean nothing, and every bond they'd forged here would have to be forgotten.

Bumblebee immediately felt a sharp pang of sorrow as he thought about the end of their friendship, this would be the last time they'd see each other on good terms.

Bumblebee shook off those depressing thoughts and soon enough, he regained his motivation as he pushed those softer feelings aside. His sorrow turned to ice and the all consuming feeling of love and his yearning to help and care for the triple changer turned into a deep burning rage. He flew up to his peds and turned towards Blitzwing with a dark scowl.

_‘I don't care about you!’_ he screamed at the recharging triple changer, inside his helm _‘I don’t care whether you're happy! I don’t care about that stupid bar you miss on Cybertron! I don’t care that you don’t have any friends anymore! And most of all I don’t care about your stupid nightmare!’_

With that last angry thought, and without putting any real thought behind it, Bumblebee raised his servo and slapped Blitzwing's leg hard to wake him up. He didn’t even know why he did it, maybe it was just a pathetic attempt to prove that he didn’t care, but honestly he couldn't say for sure.

Blitzwing's faceplate landed on Hothead this time, but that same terrified expression he’d had when Bumblebee had last woken him was still very much present on the otherwise wrathful persona.

Blitzwing immediately lifted his leg in a knee jerk reaction and swung it towards Bumblebee. Bumblebee realised then that he hadn’t really thought this through and shut his optics tight and put his arms up in an attempt to protect his faceplate as he waited for the impact and the pain that would follow. But it never came.

Bumblebee slowly opened his optics, almost like he didn’t really trust that the hit wasn't still incoming. His optics went wide when he saw that Blitzwing's ped had stopped barely an inch before it would have made contact with his faceplate. Bumblebee just stared at it as his spark tried to calm down from its near death experience. 

Blitzwing put his ped down and just looked at Bumblebee, his expression of fear having morphed into a look of confusion. Bumblebee remembered Blitzwing threatening him last time he had done this that he would "make him regret it" but there wasn't a trace of anger anywhere on Blitzwing's faceplate. He just looked completely bewildered.

“Why…? Why did you wake me up?” Blitzwing asked, voice surprisingly clear despite being suddenly pulled from his recharge. 

Bumblebee put his arms down, choosing to instead cross them over his chest and frowned, trying to play it off like he hadn't just been terrified Blitzwing was going to kick him into a wall a second ago.

“Your faceplates were spinning too loudly!” he yelled instead, He didn’t know why he was suddenly so angry as to be yelling at Blitzwing, since it had been Bumblebee himself that had put them both in this situation. Blitzwing confusion didn't dissipate at Bumblebee's explanation but it was soon accompanied by a familiar anger.

“I could have hurt you by accident!” He snapped back. Bumblebee looked at him in surprise. It looked like Blitzwing wasn't angry at Bumblebee for waking him up, he was angry because Bumblebee had put himself in harm's way by doing so. "I could have seriously injured you! Why the frag would you risk waking me?"

Bumblebee scowled up at him before turning his back to Blitzwing and silently making his way to the other side of the cell.

“Where are you going?” He heard Blitzwing call out after him. Bumblebee spared him a brief glance over his shoulder.

“I’m recharging over here! I can’t stand being next to you!” Bumblebee thought he might have seen something resembling, hurt flash across Blitzwing's faceplate but Bumblebee had already turned away so he couldn't be sure; despite that, his spark stung from the short glimpse he'd gotten. He laid down on the cold, hard concrete and immediately felt the cold seeping into his frame, now that Blitzwing wasn’t there to keep it at bay. He heard Blitzwing's faceplate switch behind him and he spoke up again, this time with a calmer tone of voice.

“But you'll freeze if you recharge over there,” His voice still held that hint of concern, and it only made Bumblebee feel angrier.

Bumblebee didn’t answer and instead chose to just keep his mouth shut and ignore the other mech.

The room was quiet for an agonizingly long time, before Blitzwing let out a sigh and seemed to accept that Bumblebee wasn’t going to respond.

Bumblebee was already starting to miss the feeling of being warm, and his spark squirmed forlornly in his chest, making it clear that it greatly disliked his choice to give Blitzwing the silent treatment. It kept urging him to apologize, as it tried to convince him that how he was treating Blitzwing was uncalled for, but Bumblebee tried to pay it no mind.

He just kept his mouth shut and tried to fall into recharge. His armour started rattling again as he brought his servos up to his mouth as he tried to warm them with his breath. It felt terrible to recharge like this, but he had hope.

_‘Just one more night. I’ll be home by this time tomorrow, and then I can recharge in my own berth, I'll be able to talk to my friends again, all these weird feelings for Blitzwing will fade away and everything can finally go back to normal.’_ Bumblebee's intense longing for home was back stronger than ever, he felt his optics start to fill with tears as he tried to imagine what it would be like when he got back to the base, all the things he would do to make up for lost time. He forced the tears back and the homesickness out of his mind as he closed his optics and tried to force himself to recharge, as he laid alone for the first time in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some awesome fanart for this chapter! https://doodle-machine.tumblr.com/post/634676438539354112/welp-this-is-mostly-based-on-a-scene-from-chapter


	13. Chapter 13

Bumblebee woke up just as familiar tremors started to shake the cell. He opened his optics and without a word got up and stared as the wall opened up to reveal the arena.

"Good morning" He heard from the other side of the cell. It seemed his "roommate" had awoken as well. Bumblebee chose not to respond, and ignoring the morning greeting, he made his way out as soon as the wall was high enough. Leaving Blitzwing without so much as acknowledgment despite how much it made his spark hurt to do so.

Bumblebee ended up defeating his share of the robots at a surprisingly quick pace today. He knew that he had no time to waste if he wanted his plan to stand any chance succeeding. 

After Bumblebee knocked down the last robot, he quickly moved to the edges of the arena and shuffled slowly as he tried to place himself just under the balcony. He made sure to move carefully so as to not attract any unwanted attention to himself, while also trying to keep as close to the electrified bars as he could without touching any of them.

Bumblebee looked up and let his optics follow the bars that stretched all the way to where Master Disaster currently stood. He didn’t know how high he actually needed to climb in order to get to the top, but it was starting to look higher than Bumblebee was comfortable with.

He swallowed hard. With every second that he wasted looking at the bars he could feel his courage waver, but he tried to stay determined. His plan was to climb up, bend the bars just enough to slip through, jump to the balcony and defeat Master Disaster so he could make his escape.

His escape plan had so many holes in it that he wasn't even sure how he was going to pull off several of the steps. He'd just have to wing it. What was the worst that could happen?

_‘This is it, just stick with the plan and you’ll be home before you know it.'_ Bumblebee told himself as he tried to hype himself up for the first step. _'I’ll be back with my team, far away from this mess, and this feelings I have for Blitzwing will stop’’_

Bumblebee gulped again and mustered up all the courage he had as he started escape attempt number 2.

He moved away from the bars so he'd have enough space for a running start, and In the next second, took off at full speed. Bumblebee jumped as high as he could, and reaching up, he grabbed the bars with his servos.

Immediately, he felt an agonizing pain as electricity ripped through his frame. He clenched his denta so hard he felt they might break, but despite the agony he felt, he started to climb. 

_‘_ _Just_ _make it_ _to_ _the balcony. You’ll be_ _b_ _ack home soon’_ That was what he kept thinking to himself as he climbed higher and higher, trying to go quickly, he endured the pain in silence.

It got harder and harder the further up he climbed. His frame, especially his arms, started shaking from both the strain of pulling himself up, and the electricity that continued to course through him. It was starting to burn and he could feel his servos spasming and twitching with each movement making it difficult to keep his grip.

The pain finally reached a high point and it became impossible for Bumblebee to remain silent as he finally released an anguished yell. It was short lived though, as he then forced himself to bite his glossa in a desperate attempt to remain silent. The arena was quiet for a moment, before suddenly, a deafening roar rang out loud enough to make the walls shake.

“Bumblebee! What the frag are you doing!?” It seemed Blitzwing had finally noticed Bumblebee's poor excuse for an escape plan. Bumblebee, now somewhat light headed, didn't think he'd ever heard Blitzwing sound quite like that before. His scream was filled with so much distress, anger and abject horror, that he sounded almost feral.

Bumblebee ignored him, despite the sound tugging at his spark, and tried to continued his slow climb to the top, only to then noticed his frame was refusing to move. He still felt the pain make its way through his frame, but he was also beginning to notice his vision was starting to blur. Black spots danced across his optical field and his vision started to swim in and out of focus. His mouth felt dry like never before, and all sound became distant as if he was underwater. The only thing he could hear was the crackling of static in his audio receptors.

Bumblebee glanced down, he had made it a good 9 maybe 10 meters, he looked back up towards the balcony, he was at least halfway there. ' _I can make it! I just have to fight a little longer'_ That was what Bumblebee repeatedly told himself, despite the multiple warning signs that he was wrong.

He tried to reach for the next bar, his servos were trembling terribly at this point, just as he went to grab it, all his strength seemed to leave him as his servos just continued to twitch.

It was then that everything started to go sideways. 

The sounds of the arena faded completely as the black dots he'd kept seeing multiplied to the point he was left in almost complete darkness. It was then that Bumblebee felt his other servo, the one currently holding onto the bar, lose all strength. Unable to hold on, his servo slipped off and he felt himself go into a free fall.

He was now in the open air without any way to save himself. The air whooshed past him as he fell closer and closer to the ground, he could barely hear the whistling of it over the ringing in his audio receptors. He looked up and saw the lights at the top of the ceiling, they sure were bright… and that was Bumblebee's last coherent thought before the darkness consumed him.

* * *

Blitzwing watched as Bumblebee lost his grip on the bars and started plummeting towards the ground. A feeling he could only describe as 'abject horror' overtook him.

It was like his frame moved of its own volition, the robot he had been fighting was smacked aside, as he had not a moment to spare, and just started frantically sprinting towards Bumblebee. Blitzwing was pretty sure he had never moved so fast in his entire life.

As soon as he was close enough, Blitzwing jumped up with both arms fully outstretched and caught Bumblebee out of the air. He cradled Bumblebee close to his chest as he landed hard on his peds. A small shockwave sent up in his wake, sand and dust flying in all directions.

Blitzwing looked down at the minibot in his arms and felt panic start to consume him. Bumblebees optics were closed and he wasn't moving. Both could be indications of something very bad.

“Bumblebee! Bumblebee wake up! Bumblebee!” He yelled as he gently shook the minibot, trying to get a reaction, any reaction. When he got nothing despite his best efforts, he could feel the dread intensify inside him. _‘No, no, no you can’t go offline. Please don’t! Please, please, please don’t leave me!’_

Blitzwing laid Bumblebee gently on the sandy ground, before kneeling down himself and pressing his helm to Bumblebee's chest plate. Blitzwing remained completely silent as he listened closely.

Time seemed to slow, it was like waiting for a bomb to go off, It felt as if the whole world was holding its breath along with Blitzwing as he waited for a sign.

And then he heard it. The first spark beat, and then another and another. Blitzwing let out an enormous sigh of relief. Bumblebee's spark was still very much alight and pulsing in a normal fashion.

Blitzwing rose up to his knees and just looked down at Bumblebee.

“Oh, thank Primus” He mumbled as he tried to compose himself. Bumblebee was still online. Bumblebee's spark might currently be fine, but the feeling of overwhelming panic and dread still lingered inside his own, all of his senses still in overdrive.

He heard movement. He looked down at Bumblebee, hoping it was from him, only to realise the sound was coming from behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw the last robot making it way towards them.

Blitzwing felt his energion boil at the sight of it.

He looked down at Bumblebee and gently stroked over Bumblebee's helm with his servo.

“I will be right back. Just rest, I will allow no harm to come to you.” Blitzwing then stood up and gave his full attention to the robot.

He bared his denta and a low, dangerous growl made its way up his throat. He rushed the robot, it swung its swords towards him but Blitzwing caught it with an open palm. The sword cut into his plating but Blitzwing was so overtaken by rage he never even felt it. He instead closed his servo into a fist and twisted his grip until the sword broke in two.

He threw the shards as far away as he could, before grabbing the robot with both servos..

He held up the robots in the air and _pulled_. The sound of distressed metal rang out in the arena followed closely by a loud crash as it was ripped in half, oil and broken metal raining down into to sand. Blitzwing threw each piece in a different direction before immediately making his way back to Bumblebee.

As soon as he returned to Bumblebee's side, Blitzwing held a servo in front of the minibots intake and didn’t pull it back until he felt the warm brush of air leave Bumblebee's mouth.

Blitzwing let out another sigh of relief. Just then the loudspeakers crackled to life.

“Well, that was an unexpected development to be sure!” Master Disaster said, clearly pleased with the recent development. Blitzwing had never wanted to squish a organic under his ped as much as he did right then. “If he had some sort of goal in mind as he pulled off that stunt it sure didn’t work out for him! What sort of idiotic idea went through his head to tr-” He never got to finish as Blitzwing snapped at him, rage clear on his faceplate.

“Shut your fraggin' mouth you glitch! Or I'll rip you into so many pieces it'll take eons to find them all!” His scream was savage as he let the uncontrollable rage he felt take him over. He would never allow this disgusting piece of organic filth to mock Bumblebee when it had been his own sadistic, money grubbing ways that had caused the minibot to sustain such damage. Despite Blitzwing's earlier vicious scream he then bent down and carefully picked up Bumblebee, tucking him close to his chest as if he could somehow shield him from the world. His hands shook as he held Bumblebee close, despite how gentle he was trying to be, to him it still felt as if even the slightest of touches might cause the minibot to shatter.

Blitzwing walked back to their cell in silence, not wanting to waste even one more moment in the arena. He kept his optics locked onto Bumblebee's chest plate, making sure it rose and fell, terrified that Bumblebee would suddenly stop venting.

He looked so terribly small and fragile in his arms, Blitzwing vowed he'd never allow something like this to happen again, he'd make sure to protect Bumblebee from now on.

When He made his way back to the cell, he sat heavily and crossed his legs. He carefully leveraged Bumblebee into his lap, trying to put him in as comfortable a position as he could. He then pressed a servo to Bumblebee's chassis, just to confirm for himself that the minibot still functioned. After checking to be sure that the minibot's venting was normal one last time, he placed his wrists back into his restraints. Blitzwing never lifted his optics from Bumblebee, fearing that if he looked away for even a moment, the minibot would be lost to him forever. 

He was still on high alert, like he was just waiting for something even more terrible to happen, and he had to be prepared for it. He was so focused on Bumblebee that he almost didn’t notice when the feeder bot dropped off their oil rations, it wouldn't have mattered if he did anyway, without Bumblebee to bring it to him Blitzwing had no way of obtaining it.

Sitting like this, with Bumblebee recovering in his lap, felt very unusual. There were several feelings that stirred inside Blitzwing, as he watched over the minibot.

First, he felt terrified, terrified that Bumblebee's spark would stop pulsing and there'd be nothing he could do to help, or that something else could happen that they'd have no hope of dealing with, but most of all he felt absolutely sick at the thought of the minibot getting hurt. However, all these thoughts conflicted with another, just as intense, feeling.

He felt weirdly...strong? Like if something were to happen right now he'd be able to protect Bumblebee, as if he could defeat Unicron himself if he laid so much as a single digit on the minibot. 

But that just confused Blitzwing all the more. Bumblebee was an Autobot, and he was a Decepticon lieutenant. They were enemies, but if that was still the case, then why did Blitzwing feel the way he did? Why would he, a soldier that had battled against the Autobots for countless millennia, feel so protective of this one? This feeling of fierce protectiveness, the urge to put his own spark on the line if only to spare Bumblebee further pain. Why did he feel like that? Why had he been so terrified when Bumblebee had gotten hurt?

Blitzwing was silent as he let his processor cycle through all these strange feelings; before finally, something seemed to just slide into place, like the last piece of an overcomplicated puzzle, he finally understood. He was in love.

He just stared at Bumblebee for a while, just taking in the beautiful, soft features of the small mech in front of him. He could feel his spark speed up as he looked on, and before he even became aware, he felt a quiet laugh escape his intake. 

He didn’t know if he laughed because of how absurd the situation had become or if he was laughing at himself for being too stupid to recognize it sooner. Maybe he had always known, and just hadn't wanted to face it. He supposed it didn't matter now what his reasoning had been, he'd been a fool either way.

He was in love. He was in love with this tiny yellow Autobot. 

And now that he'd started he couldn't stop. He loved everything about Bumblebee, he loved his bright cheerful colour scheme, the way he talked, the way he moved, the way his optics lit up when he spoke of things he enjoyed, even his stupid antics had started to grow on him, like how he'd spent nearly a week just trying to stand on his servos. He loved every part of him, everything about him. He loved him. He loved Bumblebee.

The sudden overwhelming love he felt made his chest feel tight. He loved this little Autobot so much he wanted to scream it out until the whole universe knew. He just wanted to pull Bumblebee into an embrace and never ever let him go. He wanted to stay with Bumblebee forever. That was how strongly he felt, and he couldn't lie, he loved it. He loved this feeling with all his spark. Every piece of him had learned to adore Bumblebee.

He just continued to watch Bumblebee vent for some time, letting his mind just process what he had just discovered, before his emotions finally calmed enough to allow his more logical side to access the current "situation."

He actually didn’t know what to do now. He was in love… but, now what?

They would be classified as enemies when they left this place, and Bumblebee almost certainly didn’t feel the same way about him. Bumblebee was an amazing, kind, funny and beautiful Cybertronian. What could Blitzwing, an unhinged, freakish, and volatile triple changer possibly offer him? 

And that also brought up the question of what would happen to Blitzwing if anyone in his faction learned about this. He was sure Megatron wouldn't exactly be _thrilled_ at the news that one of his top lieutenants was canoodling with the enemy. 

So that just cycled back to the question: what was he supposed to do about this?

The concept of telling Bumblebee did cross his processor, but he was pretty sure it would do more harm than good. At best it would just cause Bumblebee to be extremely uncomfortable with Blitzwing's continued presence, and at worst it might cause the minibot to ignore him completely out of disgust. So perhaps the best course of action was to just keep his feelings to himself and hope that they faded before they were forced to face each other on the battlefield. Though, Blitzwing had an uneasy feeling, that it wouldn’t be that simple.

So for now, he chose to not think of the future and just focus on the present. The minibot in his lap deserved far more attention anyway. Blitzwing tried to shift into as comfortable of a position as his restraints would allow, something told him he wouldn't be getting any recharge this night.

He was still unsure what to actually do about his feelings, but he supposed it did no harm to allow his spark the indulgence to feel this way, if only for the moment. It wasn't as if Megatron could read his mind, and the Decepticon leader had no way of knowing what actually went on once the camera shut off. So the only way he would find out was if Blitzwing told him.

And who cared about Megatron anyway? He'd deal with the repercussions when that time came. At the moment he needed to focus on the here and now.

He decided right then and there that as long as their pact was still in play, he would protect Bumblebee with everything he had. He would make sure that the minibot stayed healthy and happy no matter the cost.

Unconsciously, Blitzwing was pulled back to the moment when Bumblebee had tried to climb those bars. Just remembering how horrified he'd been when he saw Bumblebee in pain, trying to hold on to those bars before he lost his grip. The memory made Blitzwing's tank turn.

He hadn't expected Bumblebee to try something so...reckless? He knew Bumblebee could be a bit of a wild card and he could be pretty impulsive, but not even in Blitzwing's wildest dreams would he have considered Bumblebee foolish enough to pull such a dangerous stunt!

But he had felt like something was off with him yesterday. Bumblebee had been oddly hostile towards him which had been a surprise, and now this? Blitzwing had noticed Bumblebee's strange behaviour but after Bumblebee had dismissed him he hadn't tried to dig any deeper into the matter. He felt it wasn't his place, and with his own track record of lashing out and keeping things close to his chest it had felt a bit hypocritical of him to poke around for more information. But what Bumblebee had done in the arena could not go so easily ignored, and he couldn't in good conscience let this slide. He was going to figure out what was going on with Bumblebee, even if he had to pry. He was fine with being labelled a hypocrite if it meant he could keep Bumblebee from doing things like this in the future.

Bumblebee gave a soft vent and rolled over in his recharge so that his back was now facing the triple changer. Blitzwing just watched him and let out a quiet sigh. 

* * *

Bumblebee's optics opened slowly, his whole frame felt incredibly sore. His memory was somewhat fuzzy, but he did remember losing his grip right before he blacked out. His mind was slow to start up and overall he felt extremely weak.

_'Am I..offline?'_ Was the first coherent thought he had. He let his optics roam his surroundings, trying to figure out where exactly he had ended up. He soon recognised the familiar grey walls of his dismal prison, and he frowned.

_'Probably not,'_ he thought listlessly. _'I don't think the well of allsparks would look like a prison cell’_ He felt a smile form on lips at the thought, but his humor quickly deteriorated when he realised what this all meant, and all at once he was overcome by a great wave of despair. He had failed to escape this place, and for the second time, he was back at square one. He hadn't made even the slightest headway in getting out here and reuniting with his team.

He had only made a fool of himself by trying. And at that, he could feel his optics start to fill with tears. With each new quiet sob, his frame jerked despite his desperate attempt to swallow back his grief. 

“Bumblebee?” Bumblebee let out a quiet yelp of surprise and went completely still, not daring to move. The voice had sounded unbelievably gentle, and Bumblebee recognised it at once. The problem was, the individual it had come from was way too close. 

Bumblebee looked down only to be confronted with Blitzwing's tank treads. It took a moment before his processor put all the pieces together and he realized he was laying in Blitzwing's lap again, and this time he wasn't just longing over his thighs, he'd been recharging while Blitzwing was sitting cross legged. Bumblebee could feel Blitzwings stomach against his back and he could feel every deep vent he took. This was the closest they'd ever been, excluding the time Bumblebee had accidentally hugged his legs in his recharge.

Bumblebee was completely silent as he tried to will his tears away. He couldn't stand the thought of Blitzwing seeing him like this.

_‘Great, just great, it's just fan-fragging-tastic that I have to deal with this when I just woke up’_ He thought angrily.

“Bumblebee, are you awake?” Blitzwing continued, his voice still unusually gentle, like he still wasn't sure if Bumblebee was really awake and he didn't want to disturb the minibot if he was still in recharge.

“What is it?” Bumblebee hissed and turned his helm so could look at Blitzwing, what he saw kind of threw him off guard.

As soon as Bumblebee had locked optics with the triple changer, Blitzwings worried expression seemed to turn into one of relief. Blitzwing also looked really tired, like absolutely exhausted, as in he looked like he was being held up by sheer willpower alone and at any moment he could fall into recharge, but despite how awful he looked, he did seem fairly alert.

“Are you in pain? Have you sustained any serious injuries?” Blitzwing continued, his voice only sounding more concerned as It seemed he'd chosen to ignore Bumblebee's previously harsh response. Bumblebee just quietly observed Blitzwing, before he scoff.

“I’m fine. Stop fussing over me” He sneered. 

This time Blitzwing didn’t let Bumblebee's seemingly spontaneous aggression slide and his faceplate switched to Hothead. Now that he was sure Bumblebee was alright he had no reason to go easy on him and he was about to give Bumblebee a piece of his mind.

“Have you gone completely insane?!” His voice was full of anger now, having lost its soft cadence in exchange for a more harsh berating tone. “What could have possibly made you believe that climbing the _electrical_ bars was a good idea?! Have you lost every functional capacitor in your processor!?” Bumblebee scowled at him.

“I thought that if I could reach the balcony I could escape!” Bumblebee snapped, suddenly furious as he tried to defend himself. His response didn’t look to be calming Blitzwing in the slightest, as he then continued in the same rage filled tone.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your so called “plan”!? At least if you had told me I could have explained to your minuscule processor how utterly idiotic it was! I thought you had something resembling intellect bouncing around inside that helm of yours! But I was apparently wrong!” He yelled “Were we not supposed to be “allies” and escape together?!" He took a moment to breathe before continuing in a low growl, "Is this your way of saying our pact is over?” 

Bumblebee felt his spark fill with dread at the thought of their allegiance being broken, that they could already be separated by Bumblebee's own stupidity, but before he could make it any worse by responding with more hostility, his spark spoke for him. 

“No! Absolutely not!” Bumblebee blurted out. Blitzwing's scowl only deepened.

“Then why the frag, did you keep me in the dark about this?! And why are you acting so weird!?”

Bumblebee immediately knew what Blitzwing meant about his odd behavior, but Bumblebee still didn’t know how he'd even begin to explain himself. His processor raced as he tried to think up an excuse that might satisfy Blitzwing enough to leave him alone. 

“I am not! I'm acting like I always do!” Bumblebee shouted, trying to aggravate Blitzwing enough to drop the subject, but Blitzwing was not having it today.

“No you are not! You've been acting really weird and angry today and all of yesterday! You woke me from a nightmare and slept on the other side of the cell! And don't forget that you tried to climb the electrified bars while we were in the arena! You could have gone offline do you understand that?! I thought you had accidently killed yourself! I fraggin’ stayed up all night just to make sure your spark didn't extinguish!” Bumblebee stared at him in shock.

“You… were worried about me?” Blitzwing's irritation seemed to reach a new high at Bumblebee's words.

“Of course I fraggin' was! I couldn’t recharge even for a moment because I thought you might go offline!” Bumblebee just stared at him, and his spark started fluttering.

_‘He stayed up all night just to make sure I was okay’_ Bumblebee, thought rather dreamily, but he quickly put a halt to that. _‘No! He doesn't care about me! He's probably only keeping me alive because I’m of use to him!_ ’ Bumblebee scowled and snapped back at him.

“Why does it matter to you how I’m doing! Just stay in your lain, con!” Bumblebee spit the last word as if just the sound of it made him sick. Blitzwing's anger seemed to drain out of him as a look of surprise took its place, but there was also a look of on his faceplate that made all of Bumblebee's previous anger turn to regret. The expression Blitzwing gave him was so much worse than the times he had been angry and had yelled at him, Bumblebee was used to that, he could handle that. What he couldn't handle was the look of hurt Blitzwing kept giving him.

They both remained silent for a long time. It looked like Blitzwing was thinking deeply before his faceplate was overtaken by Icy.

“What did I do wrong?” Blitzwing asked, His voice was soft again and filled with something that teetered on the edge of sorrow. The question as well as the tone caught Bumblebee off guard. He'd been so sure that Blitzwing was going to yell at him.

“W-what?” He stammered.

“What did I do to upset you like this?" His voice was small and miserable. "Did I say something wrong? Did I scare you or hurt you in some way?" He continued "If I did it wasn’t my intention, so please just tell me what I did so I can apologize, so I can _learn_ not to do it again” His voice sounded genuine, like he honestly believed it was his fault that Bumblebee was treating him this way. 

“No! No you didn’t do anything wrong!” Bumblebee exclaimed, his initial anger falling away as he realized his actions might have really hurt Blitzwing. Blitzwing's faceplate switched back to Hothead.

“That’s slag and you know it!" He barked "I obviously did something to deserve this! Otherwise you wouldn’t be acting this way! So just tell me already, what have I done wrong?!"

“Nothing! You haven't done anything!” Bumblebee repeated louder and more urgently, but this only seemed to make Blitzwing more confused.

“Then why are you like this?! What is different?!” He questioned, but instead of answering Bumblebee just turned away from the triple changer.

He could feel that his tears were not far away now. His crippling homesickness, the complicated feelings that he still didn't understand and seeing how much he'd actually managed to upset Blitzwing was suddenly too much to bear. How much longer could he be expected to hold in all he felt? He just wanted to be left alone, but what could he possibly do? He couldn't even leave the room.

“Bumblebee talk to me! Just tell me what's wrong so I can fix it!” Blitzwing yelled, but Bumblebee just continued to stubbornly look away as his vision started to blur. Blitzwing spoke up again, his words pleading “Bumblebee...Please.” Those words were spoken so softly and with so much sadness that they cut right through all the walls and barricade Bumblebee had built up. That was the last straw that finally caused Bumblebee to turn back and look at him.

“I fragging just want to go home alright?!” He shouted, voice wet, and he started to sniffle before descending into great hiccuping sobs. “I’m tired of being stuck in this cell! I’m tired of fighting in the arena! I want to go back to my base! I want to recharge in my own berth! I want to be with my friends again! I don’t wanna have to stay here anymore! I want to go home!” His words stopped being comprehensible towards the end as he continued to lose himself to his misery.

Large tears fell from his optics and rolled down his cheeks, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. They just continued to fall as he felt himself give into despair. All the feelings he had tried so hard to keep locked up inside now felt unbearable, as he felt himself come apart before Blitzwing's very optics.

It was so hard to see around all the tears he shed, but he still could just about make out how taken aback Blitzwing looked, and Bumblebee could feel shame well up inside him. 

He was literally just standing here in front of Blitzwing sobbing loudly like a sparkling. He just wanted to crawl into a hole and never come back out. He could already imagine the endless mockery Blitzwing had in store for him after this. 

Bumblebee turned his faceplate away again and quickly crawled out of Blitzwing's lap before standing up and running as far away from the bigger mech as he could. He made his way over to a corner on his side of the cell, put his forehead against the cold stone and continued to wail. After a while he couldn't even see for all the tears he shed as the world blurred into a miserable shade of grey.

His whole frame heaved with every sob he failed to stifle and his optics burned. Bumblebee had never felt as tired as he did right now. 

He then heard the sounds of straining metal ring out into the tiny cell, but he ignored it, he didn’t even care enough to turn around. Well, at least he hadn't, until he heard a loud "SNAP" and then the sound of several small 'plinks' of something hitting the stone floor.

Bumblebee spun on a dime and what he saw left him speechless.

In front of him sat Blitzwing staring at his wrists in amazement, around him were the remains of the chains that had kept him bound. He had actually managed to free himself from the wall.

Bumblebee just stared at him in shock and Blitzwing seemed to be in much the same state. 

Bumblebee had never honestly _believed_ that Blitzwing was capable of breaking free, he'd been sure that the chains were too strong, but apparently he'd been wrong.

Blitzwing snapped out of his daze and got to his peds, before rising to his full height and started making his way over towards Bumblebee. Bumblebee knew that he should be worried, this was the first time Blitzwing had been given free reign inside their cell without immediately being expected to walk into the arena. Right now, he was free to do as he pleased, and their cell was so cramped that if he chose to attack now Bumblebee would have nowhere to run, and no possible way to defend himself.

But even though Bumblebee realised he was essentially trapped, he couldn't bring himself to be worried in the slightest. He hadn't been afraid of Blitzwing for a long time. 

Blitzwing kneeled in front of Bumblebee, and once he was close enough, he leaned down so that they were both on the same level. 

Bumblebee tried to look him in the optics, but he'd was crying too hard to make out much of anything. 

Blitzwing reached out for him slowly, so slowly it seemed as if he likened Bumblebee to a frightened earth animal that could bolt any second. When he finally cupped Bumblebee's faceplate he kept his hold light, giving Bumblebee the option to pull away if he wished.

Bumblebee didn’t move, he allowed Blitzwing to hold him gently in his servos, the warmth radiating from the triple changers palms might as well have been the only thing keeping him rooted to the moment.

Blitzwing stroked his thumbs over Bumblebee's cheeks brushing away the remains of his tears. He gave Bumblebee that same soft smile, the one that seemed to be reserved only for him. Bumblebee let out another sniffle, more tears rising to the surface.

“Shhh” Blitzwing said in such an unbelievably gentle tone, Bumblebee hadn't even thought the Decepticon capable of making. “Shhh, It’s alright. Please don’t cry anymore. Everything's going to be okay.” He said, as he continued to stroke over Bumblebee's cheeks.

Bumblebee just looked into Blitzwing's kind optics and listened to his soothing voice full of reassurance as he allowed himself to be comforted. 

Even when Bumblebee's tears had dried and his sobs had faded into the occasional hiccup. Blitzwing kept holding him in his servos as he continued to shower him with soft words of encouragement.

“Everything will be okay now.” He said, "I promise." he was quiet for a moment before his faceplate switched to Random. Even wearing a different faceplate the soft look in his optics never left. “Turn that frown upside down!” He sang. Bumblebee let out a wet giggle, his previous crying having left his voice tired and raspy, but even with such a minor display of humor Blitzwing seemed to light up. “There’s the happy little minibot I know!” He said, his voice filled with joy. 

His optics left Bumblebees faceplate for a moment, as the servos that had been holding his face gently moved down to his shoulders before lightly trailing along forearms until they met his own servos where they intertwined with Bumblebees own much shorter digits. Blitzwing lifted his helm to look at Bumblebee then, as he gently held their joined servos in between them. Bumblebee let him, mesmerized by the tingling sensation everywhere Blitzwing touched.

Blitzwing grabbed Bumblebees left servo in one of his, and with the servo he still had free he pulled at the metal bracelet around Bumblebees wrist, being careful so that Bumblebees plating wouldn’t be damaged.

The bracelet crumbled like old tissue paper as it was ripped apart. The now useless scrap metal falling to the floor with a clang. He then took Bumblebee's other servo and did the same. 

“There!” Blitzwing said happily, “I didn’t think that bracelet suited you anyway!” He said as he laughed, but Bumblebee only just barely heard him. 

He stared down at his newly freed wrists in shock.

He slowly touched the plating that had been confined under the cuff. Being able to touch the plating that had been lost underneath for so long weird. It was almost like a phantom feeling, like he could still felt the pinch of the inhibitors even after they were gone.

Bumblebee held up his servos for a moment before quickly attempting to activate his stingers.

They came out, no problem. He made them crackle with electricity to be sure they still worked properly, and to his immense relief they did. A smirk slowly overtook Bumblebee's lips, his sadness from a moment ago forgotten. 

Blitzwing got up from his lowered position and walked over to the cell door, a whirl sounded and suddenly Icy was looking back at him. 

“How close were you to escaping last time you tried to leave?” He asked. Bumblebee pouted as he was reminded of his failure.

“I got all the way to the front door, but I ended up tripping at the finish line.” Bumblebee growled, still a irritated with how close he had been to freedom. Blitzwing nodded.

“Do you remember the way?” Blitzwing continued, Bumblebee just shrugged.

“Think so” Blitzwing nodded again.

“Great, then you’ll lead the way, but we must be quick, this is going to cause a lot of noise.”

“What is?” He asked, Blitzwing's faceplate switched to Random and his smile became almost manic as it grew larger.

“This is!” He yelled as he took a few steps back before darting forward and slamming his shoulder into the door. It made a horrible screech as the lock broke, and the door was forced open. Blitzwing quickly turned back towards Bumblebee “Let’s blow this popsicle stand!” He hooted before taking off running. 

Bumblebee stared at the place Blitzwing had just been for a moment in a daze, before he quickly shook himself out of it and sprinted after Blitzwing, not wanting to remain in their cramped cell for even a second longer.

Soon, an alarm started blaring an almost deafening sound that seemed to almost shake the walls. Bumblebee put his servos over his audio receptors and yelled at Blitzwing.

“You couldn’t have opened the door any quieter?!” He had to really strain his voice to be heard over all the noise. 

Blitzwing glanced at him over his shoulder and switched to Icy.

“They would have heard my heavy footsteps anyway! Different causes but would have brought the same outcome!” He yelled back. 

Bumblebee wanted to refute that statement but he was interrupted when they came upon the first fork in the road. 

“Take a right here!” Bumblebee yelled “And then the first left! After that it's a straight shot to freedom!” 

They both ran through the hallway, and soon the smell of the outside world hit Bumblebee, he could clearly make out the smell of pine trees. 

Bumblebee looked straight ahead and saw the opening, but he also noticed that a metal slab was slowly descending in front of it. It looked like Blitzwing had noticed it as well as he attempted to quicken his pace.

Blitzwing started running ahead for the exit. Bumblebee could no longer even make an attempt to match his pace on foot, and was about to transform when he heard a loud bang, and he let out a scream at the sudden pain. He lost his balance and fell to the floor, his previous momentum causing him to slide across the hard concrete, scratching up his paint even more than it already was.

“Bumblebee!” He heard Blitzwing scream, his voice sounded from somewhere far ahead but Bumblebee had trouble focusing on it when every one of his sensors was alight with agony.

His leg felt hot with an almost blistering heat and he let out a low grunt in pain.

His optics searched for where the shot had come from and saw the robot that had tried to shoot him during his last escape attempt standing in the hallway they had just run down. It looked like they had somehow managed to run past it, and when the hallway opened up it had been able to get a clear shot and Bumblebee just happened to have been the unlucky recipient.

Bumblebee activated his stingers and shot several bolts at it. They all struck home as the robot spasmed for a second and then collapsed. 

Bumblebee looked down at his leg to assess the damage, but with just a short glance he could tell he was slagged.

The wheel on his right leg had been completely destroyed along with parts of his ped. He was also leaking a steady trail energion, thankfully it didn't appear to be life threatening. It could have been alot worse. The injury itself didn’t seem to have hit any major energon lines so he wasn't currently at risk of bleeding to death, but frag if it didn't hurt like the pit.

“Bumblebee are you okay?!” He heard Blitzwing scream, Bumblebee looked up ahead. 

Blitzwing had stopped moving and had turned towards him, his expression one of concern.

Bumblebee tried to get up only to scream in pain as he tried to put weight on his ped. He tried to push through it. He did manage to stand up, but just as he tried to take a step, his ped sent out another shockwave of pain and he stumbled. He took a moment to right himself and started limping forward. His damaged ped severely slowed him down, and now that he was out of one of his wheels his altmode was pretty much useless.

Bumblebee looked Blitzwing in the optics before he turned to the doorway and the slab that was slowly sealing it off, and he realised something. He'd never be able to reach it in time… But Blitzwing still had a chance.

Bumblebee felt as if a chunk of ice had suddenly incased his spark. Blitzwing could escape, but only if he left Bumblebee behind. 

Without Blitzwing here Bumblebee would be forced to fight alone in the arena, practically a death sentence. If he didn't get out now, there was very little chance of Bumblebee ever getting out of this alive… He felt his tank sink as he made up his mind.

He couldn’t bring himself to try and take away Blitzwing's one chance at freedom. No matter what happened to himself, he knew he'd feel much better knowing at least Blitzwing had been able to escape. He deserved to be free.

“Blitzwing go! I won’t make it!” He yelled, trying to convince Blitzwing to take this opportunity, and just leave him behind. Blitzwing just stared at him before Hothead appeared.

“What the frag are you talking about?!" He shouted back, "We’ll escape together! Our pact, remember?!” Bumblebee shook his helm.

“I won’t make it! Just go, escape without me!” Bumblebee stopped trying to move after that and let his optics fall to the ground in despair, as he slowly tried to come to terms with the fact that his chance at freedom had been snatched away once again.

It was hard to hear with the alarm still going, but he thought he still heard the sound of Blitzwing's heavy footsteps, but instead of getting further away, they seemed to be coming closer.

Bumblebee lifted his helm and realised Blitzwing was rushing back towards him.

His faceplate switched to Random.

“Heads up!” He shouted before he snatched Bumblebee up into his arms, like a mother cradling a baby and took off once again for the exit.

Bumblebee was tightly tucked against Blitzwing's chest and despite the absolute chaos going on around them he felt oddly comfortable and safe, like Blitzwing had become a barrier against the outside world. He couldn't imagine wanting to be anywhere else.

Bumblebee pushed those feelings aside, and instead focused on the moment at hand.

He looked towards the doorway as they continued to get closer, and it didn’t take long for Bumblebee to realise something that filled him with horror. The door had closed so much that there was no way Blitzwing was going to make it through and Bumblebee realised then that Blitzwing had played himself. The slab was also much too thick for Blitzwing to brute force his way through like he had done with the door of their cell.

Bumblebee turned towards Blitzwing and started yelling at him.

“Why did you come back for me?! Because you did, neither of us will be able to escape!” Bumblebee was angry, angry at Blitzwing for not saving his own aft and instead wasted his one chance at freedom by coming back for Bumblebee. He hated that it was because of him that their escape attempt was going to fail. Blitzwing would be imprisoned again, he'd be chained up again against his will, and it would be all Bumblebees fault. 

Blitzwing went quiet for a moment before his faceplate switched to Icy. 

“No, you're wrong.” His voice was low and ominous. “One of us will escape” Bumblebee had no time to ask what he meant by that, because in the very next second Blitzwing had grabbed him with one servo, and like a curling ball, threw him so that he slid along the ground.

Bumblebee flew across the hallway floor at an extremely high speed and was able to slide right under the metal slab. He continued to slide a bit in the gravel that was on the outside of the door making the rocks fly everywhere. A few became lodged in his wound making it sting but he hardly even noticed.

Bumblebee had no time to think about his successful escape, or even the pain in his leg, because his mind instead chose to completely turn its attention to Blitzwing.

Bumblebee looked back at the base entrance and saw that Blitzwing had stopped a bit short of the door, having realised there was no hope of him making it through and therefore no point going all the way. The opening was much too small for him to fit through now, leaving him trapped on the other side.

Bumblebee felt panic overtake him as he didn’t even bother to stand up and instead crawled back to the opening. He pressed his chest and helm to the ground, trying to keep Blitzwing in his line of sight for as long as possible.

“Blitzwing! Blitzwing why-!” Bumblebee didn't get the chance to continue because in the very next moment Blitzwing's faceplate switched to Hothead and he began shouting at him.

“Go! Don't look back! Find your team, I'll be fine!” 

The slab got closer and closer to the ground, leaving Bumblebee with so many things to say and not nearly enough time.

Bumblebee had a thousand things he wanted to say, but he couldn’t seem to find his voice as his decision-making anxiety got the better of him. He couldn't decide for the life of him what he could possibly say in their last moments. _'Why did you do this?', 'You idiot!', 'You slaggin' scrap for processor!'...'I'm sorry for lashing out at you', 'I'm sorry I was the reason you couldn't escape', 'Thank you'...'I love you'_

All of them were things he wanted to say, he wanted to yell at Blitzwing for doing this, he wanted to be angry at him. He wanted to shout and cry because Blitzwing would have to be left behind, and Bumblebee didn't have nearly enough time to explain how much he had come to care about him. All the things he wanted to say just seemed to die on his lips. 

But he couldn’t leave Blitzwing like this, he couldn't just leave him behind without a single word after he had saved him by giving up his own chance at freedom. So finally Bumblebee just forced something out in a panic. 

“I’ll come back for you!” He screamed, his voice watery as his optics filled with a fresh wave of tears. He screamed it as he tried to give Blitzwing hope that he would be rescued. “I’ll get my team and we'll come and save you! I promise! Cross m-” Blitzwing didn’t let him finish. His lips pulled upwards into a soft smile, like he was telling Bumblebee not to worry.

“I know" he spoke with a steady and surprisingly calm voice. "I trust you” and then he disappeared behind the slab.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> friendoffungi made an incredible fanart of chapter 13 on tumbler! Go and check it out if you want!  
> https://friendoffungi.tumblr.com/post/623024816817111040/fan-art-for-chapter-13-of-tastytoast11s-amazing


	14. Chapter 14

Bumblebee just gaped at the sealed wall in front him.

He felt numb despite the absolute chaos that swirled inside his processor as he slowly tried to process what had just happened.

Without thinking about it, he scrambled up to his peds and launched himself at the door, ramming his shoulder into it as hard as he could. It made a loud noise as metal meet metal, but Bumblebee only bounced off it and landed hard on the gravel.

The entrance was built inside what looked to be the side of a mountain, meaning that the only thing that could actually be seen of the outer structure was the metal door.

Bumblebee just stared at the door, he hadn’t even managed to put a dent in it. 

Bumblebee got up to his peds again, despite the pain of his injury. He then clinched his servos to fists, and in desperation, started punching the wall.

“Blitzwing!” He screamed frantically, his voice becoming frantic with both panic and desperation. He called out to the triple changer again and again but he was only ever rewarded with silence. Bumblebee started hitting the wall harder, his servos getting sore the longer he punched and he could feel pain spiking through his knuckles with every new hit that made contact with the hard metal. Tears of helplessness ran from his optics as he continued to scream Blitzwing's name until his voice was reduced to a hoarse murmur. 

He ended up working himself to exhaustion, but despite his best efforts the door didn't give an inch and he had to accept that his efforts were fruitless. The metal door hadn't gained a single scratch despite Bumblebee's best attempts to break it down.

He was venting heavily by the time he finally stopped punching and as he tried to recover he stared at the closed door hatefully.

He slowly looked down at his closed fists, noticing that not only were they bruised in places, but his protoform had even started to split at the knuckles causing a steady trickle of energon to leak down his digits. Bumblebee scowled down at his fists before he transformed his stingers and fired off a few bolts of electricity, but even they only ended up bouncing off. One bolt hit a tree causing it to topple over the other struck the ground right next to where Bumblebee stood.

Bumblebee stared at the now charred spot on the ground and grit his denta. 

He calmed slightly after his last failed attempt and he slowly came to terms with the fact that he wouldn't be able to save Blitzwing alone. He just wasn't powerful or strong enough. He needed help, his only hope at this point was to find his team, and get back here in time to save Blitzwing. Just standing here and continuing to fight the door would be pointless, and there was always the significant risk that Master Disaster would recapture him if he stuck around here too long.

Bumblebee looked back at the door, and slowly leaned his forhelm against the cold metal.

"I'll be back for you Blitz, just...Wait for me"

No matter how much Bumblebee hated it, he finally had to turn away from the door. He tried scanning his surroundings for landmarks but all he could see were trees making up a thick forest, and the only path appeared to be a rough gravel road. It looked old, but it seemed to have recent tire tracks from some large vehicle.

Bumblebee glared at the road and then down to his destroyed tire. He wasn't going to be able to drive out of here with his tire and his wheel well out of commission, he'd have to walk. 

He started walking as quickly as he could, despite his obvious limp, down the gravel road. He did throw glances over his shoulder from time to time as the entrance slowly fell out of his line of site, as if at any moment Blitzwing would burst out of it, but that was only wishful thinking on his part.

Bumblebee continued walking for a few meters before he realised something. 

If Master Disaster came looking for him, he would definitely go down the road first, and if he happened to have the controller with him Bumblebee wouldn't be able to stop himself from being recaptured on the spot. 

He needed to go somewhere else, but with the road off limits that left him with only one option, walking through the woods.

So that's just what Bumblebee did. He made a 90 degree turn and walked right out into the forest.

He felt the soft, damp ground under his peds and the smell of spruce and resin hit him as he continued to walk forward.

His processor was still spinning with thousands of half finished thoughts and his spark was in turmoil, but he tried to file those problems away for later. He couldn't dwell on that right now, he needed to stay focused, he needed a plan.

_‘Okay, okay, okay’_ He repeated to himself. _‘I’ll just keep going forward, I'll just keep walking until I find something familiar.’_ He continued trying to encourage himself to keep going while also attempting to ignore how panicked he really was. Primus, he missed Optimus right now. Bumblebee was not a bot made to take the lead when things went wrong. It had always been Optimus who came up with the plan, no matter what the situation Optimus was always able to keep a cool helm, not Bumblebee. Unfortunately Optimus wasn't here right now, so Bumblebee was left floundering for a plan of action. 

‘Okay, _just keep moving until you find civilization, then, then, then find someone. Make them help you, or call the police.Yeah! Call the police! I'll get them to contact Captain Fanzone and he can deliver a message to my team! He can tell them to come to…’_ Bumblebee looked around the empty forest, trying to find a landmark or something noteworthy but found nothing. _‘Just come to wherever I am! And then we'll go back and save Blitzwing! Yeah, this is good, this could definitely work! This will be totally fine! I’ll have Blitzwing rescued in no time! Just gotta' keep moving!’_

He tried to stay positive, but the longer he walked the more he could feel his faked confidence abandoning him. He didn’t want to admit it, least he lose all motivation to continue, but he felt like he was on the brink of completely falling apart.

Bumblebee was left stumbling around in the middle of the woods like a blind bot just hoping he would somehow find help. He was completely alone, he had no idea how far away Detroit was, or if he was even going in the right direction, he had no idea where he was, he had no idea if Master Disaster was currently chasing him down, and perhaps worst of all, he had no way of knowing what was going to happen to Blitzwing. 

He swallowed hard and his tank churned uncomfortably at that last thought.

He had no idea what was going to happen to Blitzwing once Master Disaster got his hands on him. Bumblebee still remembered what he'd been told when he'd been recaptured after his first failed attempt to escape: “"If you try a stunt like this again so will I be very angry and the punishment will be severe.” That last part seemed to echo inside Bumblebee's processor- " _punishment will be severe.”_

Bumblebee felt mounting panic as he thought about it. _‘Will he punish Blitzwing because I escaped? What if he seriously hurts him? Or what if he forces Blitzwing to fight in the arena all alone and Blitzwing can’t handle it? What if he gets injured? What if-!”_

“Grahh!” Bumblebee let out a shout of frustration, he needed to focus! Blitzwing was strong! He'd survived a whole fraggin’ war! ‘ _He can take care of himself! He even told me as much! He said he'd be fine so that means he'll fraggin' be fine!’_ Bumblebee assured himself. remembering their last moments together before they'd gotten separated by the slab, but despite how much he continued to try and convince himself it was unnecessary he could still feel a cold thread of worry cling to his spark when he thought of Blitzwing.

Bumblebee let out a shaky sigh. This whole situation made him just feel so helpless, bad things just kept coming and coming, stacking up until it became just an insurmountable mountain of things to feel worried about. _'Could this possibly get any worse?'_

And that was when he felt the first drop of water land on him, and then another and another until the rain was pouring down like a waterfall, completely drenching him in a matter of seconds.

Bumblebee just stopped walking and slowly turned his helm upwards towards the sky, giving it the best death glare he could; before shouting, his voice full of wrath:

“Come the _frag_ on! Can I not get one slagging break!?” He screamed at the rain clouds overhead. 

But they remained unmoved by his display of anger, and the rain just continued to pour down on him. Bumblebee, in a fit of frustrated anger, picked up a rock and threw it at the sky, just to hear it fall down a few seconds later as it crashed through some spruce branches and landed on the now damp soil. 

Bumblebee was now forced to stomp around in the cold mud. It clung to the bottom of his peds and made horrible suction noises with every step he took. He walked like that for a few hours, feeling like a drenched cat and repeatedly getting slapped in the face with tree branches. 

He'd thought there was no possible way he could dislike earth's nature anymore than he already did, turns out he'd been wrong, he no longer just disliked nature, he straight up hated it.

If Prowl was around he'd probably say something poetic about “The beauty in nature” or “How the rain was important for sustaining the fragile forest ecosystem” Bumblebee let out a low growl. Prowl wasn't even around and he was _still_ getting annoyed by him! Bumblebee frowned, though, at least if Prowl had been here he'd probably know some weird trick to find out what direction he should travel by tasting the wind, or watching the way moss grew on a tree or something stupid like that.

Bumblebee continued to walk forward lost in thought before he suddenly came to a steep ravine.

The ravine in question looked to have a fairly sharp drop off, with the slope itself containing only a couple of sparse trees as well as some jagged looking rocks.

Bumblebee looked as far down as he could, trying to decide if he should risk going down, or just walk alongside it. He looked to either side and saw that the slope seemed to just keep going on until it was out of sight.

Bumblebee tried to put some weight on his damaged peg and immediately felt a sharp spike of pain, he then realized his decision had been made for him. He was not going to risk trying to walk down the slope and falling, or at the very least, making the injury worse. With that decision made he started to slowly walk along the edge. It wasn't as if he knew where he was going anyway, so walking around it or going down didn't really make that much of a difference. 

He walked for a few minutes, occasionally having to wipe rain water out of his optics so he could see.

Since he didn't have anything else to do but keep moving, he found his thoughts drifting back to the topic of Blitzwing.

Bumblebee still couldn't quite believe what had taken place earlier that day. Blitzwing had given up his own chance at freedom just so Bumblebee could escape. Bumblebee could feel his insides go all warm and fuzzy, despite the cold water still pouring down on him. _‘Blitzwing really came back for me, he made sure that I got out even though it meant he couldn't.’_ Bumblebee knew how much Blitzwing hated being stuck in that cramped cell, being almost completely immobilized, but despite all that he still made sure Bumblebee got out. He'd put Bumblebee's needs before his own even though there was no guarantee Bumblebee would ever come back for him. Bumblebee remembered what he said when he'd felt so hopeless. “Everything will be okay now. I promise” Those hadn't been empty words back there, Blitzwing had done everything in his power to keep that promise. 

There was no possible way Blitzwing had saved him just for his own benefit, Bumblebee didn’t want to face it, but there was no other explanation. Blitzwing had saved Bumblebee out of purely selfless reasons, because he had genuinely cared. 

Bumblebee felt his spark start to race at that wonderful thought. He scowled, and he tried to squash it back down, but just as suddenly, he found a complete lack of motivation to do so. 

It wasn't because he had suddenly lost all of the reasons he had to _not_ want to be in love with Blitzwing, he still had plenty, but he also found that he just didn't care about them so much anymore. He felt his attempts at controlling his emotions slip through his servos. He knew that the path he was on would only lead to misery and sparkbreak, and Primus forbid, if Blitzwing ever found out he'd probably just laugh himself into stasis lock. But all those reasons didn't seem so important anymore, and Bumblebee couldn’t help himself as he finally realized that this wasn't going to just go away.

He hadn't been confused or going stir crazy, he'd just been in denial about everything he felt for Blitzwing, and now that he had time to really think it over, he realized that those same feelings of worry and concern had mixed with a familiar warmth as he was faced with the thought of Blitzwing genuinely caring about him. After all, Blitzwing had been willing to sacrifice his own freedom for him, a sacrifice of such magnitude couldn't just be swept under the rug. 

He'd come to love Blitzwing, there didn't seem to be any use in denying it any longer. His only option was acceptance at this point and regardless of any doubts he still held onto, he'd have to start acknowledging what had suddenly been made so clear.

Bumblebee felt his mouth twitch into a small smile, he'd thought the realization would have only made him feel more miserable, but that wasn't the case, if anything it felt as if a great weight had been lifted.

He felt a surge of determination fill him as he looked on with fire in his optics. He was going to find his team! He was going to repay Blitzwing for saving him! He would save Blitzwing by himself if he had to, and there was nothing and no one that could stop him!

It was as if by accepting the love he had for Blitzwing all his past worries had fallen away and instead he was filled with both determination and hope. He felt that same warmth he'd tried so hard to fight off before increase to a raging inferno, pushing back all his previous despair as he was overcome by just how strongly he felt.

That was just about the time Bumblebee took a step and felt the muddy ground slide out from beneath him. Bumblebee immediately tried to regain his balance, but by doing so he ended up putting too much strain on his damaged leg. It sent out a sharp wave of agony and as it buckled under him, he was sent sliding down the ravine.

Bumblebee tried desperately reaching out for anything that could slow his descent, and by sheer chance, was able to get a hold of a small spruce tree growing by the ledge.

Bumblebee clung to it with everything he had, his spark beating rapidly as he looked at the sheer height of his fall before his optics finally made their way back to the small sapling, only to realize it was much too weak to hold his weight as its roots were slowly being pulled up from the ground.

_‘No, no, no, no-’_ Bumblebee thought frantically. He looked around in a panic for something else he could grab, but there wasn't anything close enough. Being left with no other choice, he again tried to pull himself up by using the tree. Hoping against hope that he could make it just high enough to grab the top edge of the slope and pull himself up, but the extra weight proved to be too much for the small tree, as the last of its roots were finally pulled from the cliff face. 

Bumblebee rapidly started tumbling down the slope. Mud turned his yellow paint brown as leaves and branches stuck to him and jagged rocks gouged small dents and scratches every time he made contact with the rocks. Bumblebee's vision became a blur as he continued rolling. At some point he ended up closing his optics in an effort to keep them from getting dirt and grass in them, but they snapped open when he was suddenly hit with one of the worst pain he'd ever felt in his function.

A wave of agony shot through his frame as something violently smacked into his injured leg and Bumblebee couldn't help letting out a scream. It was cut short though, because not a moment later a large rock made impact with Bumblebee's helm hard enough to have him seeing stars. It felt like getting the worst migraine of all time, and it caused a horrible ringing in his auditory receptors, at least until he hit something else causing his world to be consumed by darkness. 

When Bumblebee finally regained consciousness he didn’t know how long he had been out for. Minutes? Hours? Days? He had no way to know with his chronometer offline. 

The rain was still pouring down though, so he couldn't have been out too long. He tried to take stalk of his surroundings, he was laying on the muddy ground at the end of the slope; completely covered in dirt and twigs.

Both his helm and leg hurt like the pit, and it didn't help matters that he was also freezing his aft off, but despite still apparently being online, he decided to continue lying on the ground for a few more minutes just staring up towards the grey and black overcast sky. His vision was still swimming a bit and he was pretty sure he was seeing double.

He let out a deep sigh.

Then a few raindrops hit him in the optic. Bumblebee sat up with a growl. Almost immediately he was hit with a feeling of lightheadedness, and his frame pinged him with a warning at the simple action of no longer laying flat on the ground.

Saying that he was completely done with this entire day was an understatement.

He slowly reached up a servo and felt the back of his helm.

It felt like there was a gash across the back of it, he slowly brought his servo back to where he could see it and let out a sigh of relief at the lack of energon; meaning that thankfully, it wasn't an open wound. He already had a damaged ped, he didn't need a serious processor injury on top of it.

He made his first attempt to stand up only for his leg to protest and his vision to start spiraling, making him feel sick enough that he was soon sitting back on solid ground.

He tried standing up a handful more times, but he always just ended up having to sit down again. Well past the end of his rope at this point, he let out a frustrated scream.

_‘I don’t have fragging time for this! I need to get help so I can save Blitzwing!’_ He forced himself up again, this time holding onto a nearby tree for support.

Doing so only served to make him nauseous as the world seemed to spin around him. The longer he stayed upright the more he could feel yesterday's fuel starting to crawl back up his intake, and he realized that purging wasn't too far off.

He immediately let himself slide back down into a seated position, and as he waited for his fuel tank to settle he realized that the blow to the helm he'd taken must have been more serious then he'd thought; meaning, he wouldn’t be walking any time soon. 

He looked up at the sky. It seemed to only grow darker, more than likely, hinting at that night wasn't too far off.

He looked around and caught sight of a large spruce tree with thick branches.

He was able to half stumble, half crawl his way under it and he moved as close to the tree trunk as possible. Laying here was way better than laying out there, if nothing else, the tree's branches would be able to shield him from the rain.

Bumblebee just laid on his side before curling into a little ball. The ground was covered with soft moss, which strangely enough, made it a far superior recharge place than the concrete of his prison cell, but without Blitzwing to leach warmth off of, he was freezing. 

His frame shuddered with each painfully cold vent he took and he ended up bringing his servos to his mouth and he tried to warm them with his breath. Primus he missed lying next to Blitzwing...Primus, he just missed Blitzwing period. 

He missed him so much, his warmth, his presence that seemed to fill up the whole room, his stupid faceplate, he missed everything about him. Bumblebee felt a wave of sorrow consume his spark and this time he didn't do anything to stop it. Not even remembering how good he'd felt earlier made a dent in his misery. He now knew how stupid he'd been to continue fighting against what he'd known all along. There wasn't any point in ignoring it any longer. He loved Blitzwing.

He heard a grumble emanate from his fuel tank, and only then did he realize how absolutely starving he was. He hadn't gotten the chance to drink any of his fuel before he left, so the hunger pangs weren't really a surprise. He probably would've noticed his growing hunger a lot earlier if he hadn’t been so focused on not freaking out. 

Slowly an intense feeling of regret started gnawing at him.

He'd been such an aft to Blitzwing before he left, and for literally no reason! It wasn't Blitzwing's fault that Bumblebee had fallen for him, but Bumblebee still had treated him as if it was. It didn’t help that he had been so horrible to Blitzwing in the days leading up to his escape, and Blitzwing had still helped him anyway. Primus, Bumblebee hadn’t even apologised, or even thanked him, and now it was too late.

Bumblebee shook that thought out of his helm. No! It was not too late! 

He was _still_ going to save Blitzwing! and when he did he'd get the chance to tell him all those things! He'd make sure to set things right!

Bumblebee repeated his plan to himself. Find civilization and then contact the police. They would contact his team, and then they'd all come and help him save Blitzwing!

That however did raise the question how he would do that. Just how was he going to convince his team to help Blitzwing without immediately arresting him?

The thought of Blitzwing in stasis cuffs or locked up in some Cybertronian prison sickened him, but to his team Blitzwing was just some horrible Decepticon and they would probably be happy if he ended up in the stockades. 

_‘Maybe I can tell them about all the good things he did for me?, Or maybe if they capture him I can make his stasis cuff “malfunction” or something?’_ Bumblebee shook his helm again, he needed to focus on the here and now first! His team didn’t even know where he was yet! He'd have to take this one step at the time. He could worry about what to say to his team later, right now, dwelling on things that hadn't even happened would only serve to give him grief. As if he didn't have enough of that on his plate already.

The sky grew darker and soon he was left with almost zero visibility. The only light being the weak blue glow of his optics, not even the light of the moon was able to penetrate the thick cloud above.

He could feel that recharge wasn't far off for him, now as he was absolutely exhausted, but just as he closed his optics he heard a horrible screech. It almost sounded human in nature and Bumblebee was immediately wide awake. 

He just laid still. Listening, and soon he heard the noise again, closer this time. 

Bumblebee felt his spark race. ‘ _What was that?! What in Primus name made that scream?!’_ He tried to look around, but he was only met with the same darkness in every direction.

The forest became silent again, and Bumblebee shook his helm. _'It was probably just the wind or something'_ he tried to reason.

However, just as he finished telling himself that, he heard it again, and this time it was way too close. His spark felt as if it was in his intake, whatever made that noise couldn't be more than 5 meters away.

Bumblebee sat up and transformed his stingers, pressing the tips together so that they sparked with electricity. Thankfully that succeeded in somewhat lighting up the area.

He saw something dart off into the woods, but just as he pointed his stingers towards it, he caught a split second look at what appeared to be the red tail of a fox, before it disappeared into the brush.

Bumblebee vented heavily before letting out an immense sigh of relief. He retracted his stingers, and he was immediately plunged into darkness. 

He was such an idiot, he'd been terrified of some stupid fox! He was kind of glad nobody had been around to see that, he'd have never lived it down.

He laid back down, and soon all the sounds of the forest seemed to converge on him. Without the ability to see his surroundings, all he could do was listen. Every twig that snapped or cricket that chirped, sounded so much louder now, and with every unfamiliar sound it felt like his spark skipped a beat. 

He almost didn’t dare to close his optics, even if it didn’t make much difference since he couldn't see anything either way, but it still felt like the moment he let his guard down something would pop out of the darkness and attack him.

Despite how nervous he felt being in the middle of nowhere, Bumblebee was finally able to force his optics shut and tried to think of anything that would mentally take him far away from this place. He tried to think of a place he'd rather be, somewhere he would be warm and safe, a place where there'd be plenty of fuel, a place where he wasn't alone in the middle of the woods, somewhere where everything would be alright. And finally after a long night of tossing and turning he finally slipped into recharge.


	15. Chapter 15

Bumblebee woke up to the sun shining right in his faceplate and a horrible pounding in his helm. 

He forced himself up with a weak groan and began rubbing the last remnants of sleep from his optics. He looked out and saw that the rain had stopped sometime during the night, so at least that was some good news.

He stretched out his arms and yawned.

“Good morning.” He mumbled and looked around for Blitzwing, before he remembered where he was. 

_ ‘Oh right. You’re not here’  _ He thought, feeling a bit disheartened. A HUD message popped up, reminding him of a pressing need to refuel. Bumblebee quickly deleted it, there wasn't anything he could do about it right now.

He grabbed a hold of the nearest tree branch and slowly began leveraging himself back up to his peds.

He didn’t feel as nauseous or dizzy as he had before he'd fallen asleep, but his helm was still pounding and his ped protested having to carry his weight. Bumblebee tried not to dwell on the negatives though, he could at least stand now so that meant he could keep moving forward. He started walking, his damaged ped causing him to limp heavily with every step.

He looked up and saw that the sun had risen high in the sky, unfortunately that meant that he'd been recharging for quite some time, Bumblebee kicked himself for wasting even a little bit of daylight. It was currently autumn, meaning that the days were getting shorter and shorter, and daylight was precious if he wanted to get any distance before it got dark. 

He walked in silence for a while, feeling how every step jostled his leg injury causing it to flare with pain. It had been painful enough before he'd fallen, but now his injury was really starting to slow him down. But despite the protest of his frame Bumblebee continued forward, right now he couldn't afford even a short break. He looked down at his ped and noticed that it had at least stopped leaking energon, which was some good news.

After perhaps 3-4 hours of hearing the same white noise of the wind blowing through the trees, birds chirping and other normal boring forest sounds, he heard something that caught him by surprise. The sound of fast flowing water.

As soon as Bumblebee recognized the sound for what it was he perked up. He had only heard the sounds of the forest so far, so the arrival of a new sound really captured his attention and gave him a small measure of hope. 

Detroit was right by a big lake right? Maybe this was one of the rivers that fed into it, and if that was the case then that would mean he was still close to Detroit! He realized that line of thinking was a bit far fetched, but Primus he hoped he was right. And even if he was wrong about the river, he could at the very least follow it instead of continuing to stumble around the forest and risk going in circles.

He started making his way towards the sounds of rushing water as quickly as possible. 

After a much shorter walk then he expected, the trees began to thin and he was standing on the sandy bank of a fast moving river.

Bumblebee looked to both his left and right just in case there was anything out of the ordinary, but all he could see was more forest, no houses, roads or even a hint of civilization. 

He let out a disappointed sigh. He then walked over to the water's edge and looked down. He couldn't see his reflection in the water, as the current was going too fast, but even if he couldn't make out his faceplate he could still get the basic idea of his overall appearance by just looking down, and that's just what he did.

Bumblebee frowned, he was absolutely covered in mud, leaves, sticks and other debris from the forest floor, and the coating of organic mulch had changed his normal yellow colour into a sickly brown. His optics then traveled to his injury, and seeing it was just as dirty as the rest of him.  _ ‘That can’t be good’  _ He thought before returning his optics to the river. He poked one ped into the water and shivered. The water was absolutely freezing! Still, despite the frigid temperature he forced himself to walk in until the water was up to his waist. He hissed as it ran over his open wound, but it didn't take long for the cold to somewhat numb his aching frame, which was a nice change of pace from the uncomfortable throbbing of his injuries.

There was also something very satisfying about watching all the leaves and dirt get swept away by the current as his characteristic yellow paint began to reappear.

Bumblebee cupped some of the water in his servos and started pouring it over himself.

This was the first time in what felt like forever that he'd finally gotten the chance to wash up. It felt wonderful to get rid of the awful prison smell that had plagued him and replace it with a scent of fresh water. And being able to clean out all the sand that had gotten lodged in the gears and small seams of his armour was absolutely euphoric.

The cold water was also helping him feel more alert and as he continued washing his faceplate, he heard it.

Bumblebee froze and just listened, barely daring to breathe as he thought for a moment he had just been imagining it, but when the sound continued he realised it wasn't a trick of his audio receptors, he'd just heard a car.

The sound peaked for a moment before becoming distant again. It sounded like it had been coming from somewhere straight ahead from the other side of the river.

Bumblebee almost couldn't believe his luck. He'd just heard a car! If there was a car, that meant he had to be close to a road, and that meant that he was close to civilization, meaning he was that much closer to getting help!

That meant though that if he ever wanted to reach the road, he'd have to first make it past the powerful current of the river.

Bumblebee, in seeing what could be the final stretch in his struggle for help, spent point zero seconds thinking about all the ways this could possibly go wrong and started to move further into the water. 

As Bumblebee waded deeper into the river he suddenly found that the sandy bottom led to a steep drop off point as with his next step he found there was nothing underneath him. 

He fell down under the water, which ordinarily wouldn’t be a problem as he didn't actually need to breathe, but he soon found himself fighting the current as a deceptively strong undertow suddenly started pulling him out with it.

The water was much faster here and he realised then that he must have been in a reasonably calm part of rapids before, as the current in the middle of the river was far more powerful.

Suddenly, he was jerked hard to the left as the current threw him around like a limp rag doll. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to what it did as sometimes the current dragged him across the sand and stone covered river bed and in the next second he was pushed higher up and left to bob around.

Bumblebee frantically tried to grab onto something but all the rocks had been worn smooth by the constant rushing water, making them almost impossible to grab. Every time he thought he might have a good grip on one, they ended up just slipping out of his servos regardless of how hard he attempted to dig in his digits.

Bumblebee was pushed and pulled violently by the rapids before a large wave came along and slammed him into a large rock that was sticking out of the middle of the river.

His processor pulsed with the same migraine that had debilitated him yesterday and his injured leg became a sharp burst of agony as he made impact. The blow to his already damaged helm had him seeing stars and he had a brief moment where he feared he might go unconscious again, but through everything he willed himself to stay awake.

Bumblebee, still in the same position against the large rock, started to slowly crawl his way upwards as the water that had accumulated inside his frame continued to weigh him down .

He was finally able to breach the surface and crawl up onto the rock. Thankfully, it was just big enough for him to sit on.

He decided to take a quick break once he was on top and allow his frame the chance to pour out river water.

He was venting heavily after making the difficult climb and both his ped and helm were killing him. It didn't help matters that he'd managed to accumulate at least a hundred new scratches from his time in the water. 

Bumblebee looked further out and saw that there seemed to be another calm patch closer to the shore.

He measured the distance with his optics. _ ‘I can totally make it’  _ He told himself,  _ ‘and it's not like I can go back or just stay here for the rest of my life’ _

Bumblebee carefully got up to his peds, it was difficult with his leg still in pain and the rock proved to be very slippery. But he still managed it.

He took a couple of deep invents to prepare himself, and then jumped as far as he could before he was once again consumed by the icy water.

The current tried to pull at him again, but this time he was ready for it.

He dug his peds into the sand in an effort to somewhat anchor himself and slowly began to walk. 

He continued dragging his peds through the riverbed, partly because the current kept moving rocks and sand in front of him, and partly because he feared that if he ended up slipping he'd be washed away. He forced himself to keep moving, until he finally noticed the ground starting to elevate. 

As soon as he reached the drop off point he dug his digits into the sand, and after much struggling, was able to heave himself up. 

He then stood on the tips of his peds and peaked his helm up over the water's surface before he started making his way towards the shore.

But as the water became more shallow he began to feel fatigue bearing down on him. In the water he'd felt almost weightless, but now that he was out, the gravity on land only helped to bring his earlier exhaustion to the surface. It didn’t help matters that he was still fighting against the heavy damage his frame had taken yesterday, and at this point he was just barely managing to put one ped in front of the other. 

He fell to his knees and ended up crawling the rest of the way to land, and as soon as he was on the other side of the riverbank he rolled onto his back and just vented.

Bumblebee glanced down at his ped and saw, with no small amount of worry, that he'd managed to reopen his wound causing pink energon to spill out onto the sand. He wanted to get up, or at least move again, but his frame just felt too heavy. 

Bumblebee tried to check his HUD for any updates to his self repair or at least an estimate of how long it would take for his ped to stop bleeding. He wanted a break so badly, and if nothing else, he needed to know how much time it would take for his injuries to heal. But his optics were only met with error messages, meaning that Master Disaster probably had it turned it off. The fragger. Bumblebee silently cursed him for taking away yet another of his HUD's features.

Bumblebee just stayed lying in the sand. The sun's warmth was helping to dry the water still stuck in his gears, and as he continued to lay there he could feel his optical shutters growing heavier. He was so tired. Maybe a short rest wasn't such a bad idea after all...

When Bumblebee next woke up it was dusk, the sky was just starting to lose it's orange and red glow and pink clouds drifted lazily above him. He sat up in a panic.  _ ‘SLAG!  _ ’ he thought, He really hadn’t meant to recharge that long.

He quickly jumped to his peds and started frantically looking around. There was still a small window of daylight left and he was going to use it!

He started walking in the direction he remembered the sound of cars coming from earlier that day. He didn’t know how long he'd been walking, it couldn't have been more than 5 minutes, when he saw something that made him so happy he could have screamed with joy.

He'd finally found a road made of asphalt, he had never been so happy to see such an ordinary structure in his whole life.

Bumblebee crawled out of the ditch he'd just tripped into and stepped out onto the road. Just the feeling of something other than concrete or mud under his peds felt so wonderful he could have cried. 

He couldn’t dwell on it for long though because shortly after his discovery,he heard the all too familiar sound of a vehicle coming right for him.

Bumblebee turned around and saw the headlights of a car speeding out from behind a bend in the road.

He watched as it came closer and waved his arms and shouted as he desperately tried to get the drivers attention. But the car was traveling at a good 100 km/h at least and ended up just driving past him without even a hint of slowing down.

Bumblebee watched the car drive past him with a sinking feeling.

“Wait, please! I need your help!” Bumblebee screamed as he gestured wildly, but either the driver somehow didn’t notice him or simply didn’t care enough to see what he was shouting about; because they ended up just driving past him without a single pause.

Bumblebee felt despair start creeping back in, but he quickly shook himself and tried to stay positive. 

_ ‘It was just one car, I'm sure there will be more. I’ll just stop the next one’  _ He thought as he started walking again. 

Sure, it  _ had _ only been one car that had passed him by, but to Bumblebee's growing horror there didn’t seem to be any other cars on the road. He wasn’t sure how long he had been walking, two hours at the very least, but no new vehicles appeared, and the sky had become so dark at this point he could barely see his servo in front of his face.

It didn’t look like this road was used very much, which made sense, Master Disaster's evil lair was somewhere around here. If Bumblebee had some sort of secret base, he wouldn’t build it around a main road where just anybody could stumble upon it.

His leg was seriously starting to hurt too, but he knew he had to keep going if he ever wanted to stand a chance at finding help. Unfortunately, on his next step his ped caught something, probably a rock or a stupid branch, and he ended up falling over. Thankfully, he was able to catch himself with his servos before he fell flat on his faceplate, but his multiple injuries protested the sudden movement. 

He pushed against the hard asphalt and got up onto his knees, but just as he prepared to stand up his leg buckled underneath him and he let out a quiet hiss of pain. After that he decided to just sit down for a second and wait for the pain to subside.

After waiting around for maybe 5 minutes he noticed a bright light shining out of the forest and the distant sound of a powerful engine.

He immediately shot to his peds, his discomfort momentarily forgotten as he gave the sound his full attention. He looked around frantically before he finally saw a large vehicle take shape as it sped out from around a bend in the road. 

As Bumblebee watched the truck come closer a warm surge of hope filled his spark, but he also realised something that worried him.

This was the only vehicle that had come along after almost two hours of walking. The last car he'd seen hadn't stopped. What would he do if this one didn’t stop either? Who knew how long he'd be forced to wait if this person didn't help him.

Bumblebee saw it coming closer and he felt panic build inside him. He had to make this one stop, he just had to, Blitzwings life could depend on it.

He'd always heard that there was a fine line between bravery and stupidity, and Bumblebee really wasn’t sure what side his next course of action was going to land. But He had a funny feeling it would probably be classified as stupidity.

Bumblebee mustered up every bit of courage he had and jumped straight out into the middle of the road.

Bumblebee couldn’t see the driver, but he could hear that they were leaning hard on the car horn as it made a continuous and loud, ‘HOOOONK!’ But even after seeing just how fast the truck was bearing down on him Bumblebee refused to move.

He shut his optics tightly and waited for the impending crash as he heard the sound of grinding breaks and squealing tires come closer and closer, but just as he prepared to be run over, the sounds of the truck stopped and a human voice rang out.

“Holy sh- are you alright?!”

Bumblebee slowly opened his optics and saw that the truck had stopped merely a few centimeters in front of him. Bumblebee let out an enormous sigh of relief and turned his attention to the driver who had just turned on the truck's ceiling lamp. A rather frazzled human woman was leaning out of her window as she looked at him in shock. It looked as if his little stunt had almost given her a heart attack.

Despite the tremors running up and down his frame and generally still reeling from throwing himself in front of a fragging truck. He ran up to her side window and started rambling incoherently.

“You-have-to-help-me-I‐just-escaped-from-this-guy-called-MasterDisaster-he-kidnapped-me-and-forced‐me-to-fight-in-hi-” 

The woman raised her hands and motioned for him to slow down.

“Woah, woah cool your jets! You're talking too fast for me to understand! What’s going on? What’s the problem?”

Bumblebee spark was beating like crazy at the prospect of actually getting help, but he forced himself to slow down. He needed to focus right now, he could have his freakout later.

“My name's Bumblebee." He said much more slowly. "I'm an Autobot and I just escaped from my kidnapper.” He said, trying to keep both his excitement and the rising panic out of his voice. “I just really need some help.” Bumblebee looked at her with desperation in his optics. He didn't know what he'd do if she dismissed him. After all, he had jumped in front of her vehicle, what if she just thought he was crazy?

The woman gave an understanding nod.

“I gotcha” She said “I’d be happy to help in any way I can.” Bumblebee let out the breath he'd been holding and gave her a grateful smile. He was so relieved by her offer he could have cried. Finally, after all his searching he'd found someone that was willing to help him out. He didn't even know this woman, but just knowing that he wasn't alone gave him a sense of relief he hadn't felt since he'd had to leave Blitzwing behind. 

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” The woman shrugged.

“Don’t thank me yet, I haven’t done anything for ya.” She suddenly put her hand to her mouth and furrowed her brows as if she tried to remember something.

“Wait, what did you say your name was again?” She asked.

“I'm Bumblebee, but all my friends just call me Bee.” She scanned him from top to bottom, and then focused hard on his faceplate.

“You didn't happen to come from Detroit, did you?” Bumblebee felt his spark squeeze at the question. Did this woman recognise him?

“Yes I did!” He yelled excitedly. The woman snapped her fingers.

“I knew I recognized you! There are missing person-uhh... missing robot posters all over Detroit!” She said with a smile. “I'm actually hauling some stuff that came straight from Detroit.” She said nodding towards her trailer. 

Bumblebee felt an overwhelming feeling of happiness at finally getting somewhere, but his success was soon overshadowed by a feeling of sorrow.

His team  _ had _ been looking for him, and they'd apparently plastered missing person posters all over Detroit hoping for his return. They hadn’t decided to just forget about him or leave him behind. He already knew that but it was still nice to have it confirmed after wrestling with his own doubts for so long. Bumblebee felt a new hope claim his spark at the news, and he barely refrained from sticking his helm inside the women's side window in his excitement.

“How far away is Detroit?!” He asked eagerly. If this woman really was from Detroit then she could tell him how far away it was! Maybe she could even give him directions on how to get there! 

The woman seemed to think for a moment as she calculated the distance in her head.

“I'd say it's about 30 to 35 hours away from here, but that would be without making any pit stops and you'd have to drive through the night." She shrugged. "But I guess it would also depend on how much traffic there is on the road or if there's any construction going on.” Bumblebee felt his spark sink as he was faced with the reality of his situation. 

_ ‘30 hours away without making a single stop?!’  _ He thought hysterically. There was no possible way he could walk that far with one of his peds damaged, and he knew that time was of the essence if he ever wanted to rescue Blitzwing. Bumblebee shook his helm, he had to focus! He needed to contact his team before he made any plans. And since walking all the way back back to Detroit just wasn't feasible, he'd have to come up with a new plan.

He couldn't exactly shorten the distance between him and his team so he needed to focus on what he actually could do.

He turned back to the woman.

“Can you call the police and tell them where I am? Oh, and make sure to ask for Captain Fanzone of the Detroit police force! He'll know how to pass along a message to my team so they can come and pick me up!” The woman nodded and started to search the pockets of her jacket before fishing out her cell phone.

She started her phone, looked at the screen and then frowned.

“I can't get a signal all the way out here.” She hissed, clearly frustrated. “And the closest town is at least half an hour away!” Bumblebee's optics fell and he could feel despair starting to close in. The woman seemed to notice his growing despondency and spoke up.

“Hey, don't give up hope just yet.” She said. “How about this? I’ll drive into town and contact the police from there, then after I’m done I'll drive back and wait for them with you." Bumblebee looked up in surprise.

“You'd really do that for me?” He asked, the woman nodded.

“Sure, it's only a small detour and I don't think I'd be able to look myself in the mirror knowing I just left someone who needed help hanging!” She exclaimed, giving him a smile. “Just give me a second.” She opened up her glove compartment and sifted through the multiple items inside looking for something. Several papers, candy wrappers and even a pair of sunglasses were tossed aside before She eventually pulled out a slap on, reflective bracelet. “Here!” She said and tossed it to him. Bumblebee fumbled with it but managed to catch it with two servos. “Put that around a tree branch or something, that way I can see where you are when I come back! Also, please don’t jump out in the middle of the road, you really scared me back there.”

Bumblebee looked down at the reflector in his servo. He'd seen these types of slap bands before, he knew Sari in particular had several of them, and at one time had made it her mission to slap one onto every member of team prime. Bumblebee shook himself out of the memory and focused back on the woman.

“Thank you so much for your help.” he said earnestly. The woman just gave him a wink.

“Don’t sweat it.” She said, before putting her truck in gear and speeding off.

Bumblebee watched the truck quickly become a small speck on the horizon before it made a sudden right turn and disappeared completely out of sight.

He walked back to the tree line and snapped the bracelet onto the first best branch he came to before sitting down.

He felt himself quickly becoming impatient and his leg started to bounce. He wanted to keep moving, but his rational mind reminded him that it would take days if not weeks to walk all the way to Detroit. And as much as Bumblebee hated staying still, he had to acknowledge his best hope of rescue right now was to just stay put.

But he couldn’t help feeling restless, as he was brought back to the notion that right this very minute Blitzwing could be fighting for his life while Bumblebee just sat here and twiddled his thumbs. But all he could do right now was hope Blitzwing could hold out long enough for his team to arrive.

He looked up at the sky, as seeing the stars was quickly becoming a novelty now that he was outside for the first time in weeks. And It really was a beautiful night, no clouds, no city lights to distract him, just himself and a million tiny lights. Sadly, with all the things that had happened recently, he wasn't able to fully appreciate their beauty, but the sense of familiarity was welcoming. These stars were the same ones that were suspended over Detroit, and they were the same stars that his team were currently under. It wasn't a huge comfort, but at times like these when bad things kept piling up he took what little comfort he could in feeling like his team was just a little bit closer.

He didn’t know how long he'd been waiting there when he suddenly saw headlights coming from the direction the woman left in, and all too soon the familiar sounds of a truck engine reached his audio receptors.

He stood up and tried to see if he could make out details. 

It was clearly a truck driving towards him, but there was something a bit...off?

He could almost swear he remembered the woman's truck having a more yellowish colored headlights, and he was pretty sure he'd heard her say it would take at least a half hour before she made it into town, so she'd been surprisingly quick.

Bumblebee shook his helm and decided not to think too hard about it. He was tired, in pain, and low on fuel, he was probably just imagining it.

As the truck came closer it's headlights illuminated both Bumblebee and the reflective Bracelet he'd put on the branch.

The truck immediately started to slow down and only came to a complete stop about 10 meters ahead of him.

The door opened, and it was hard to see with the headlights still blinding him, but he could still faintly make out the silhouette of a person.

“There you are!” It was only three words, but as soon as they left the person's mouth Bumblebee felt his spark stop and all the air left his vents.

It wasn't the woman's voice. It was not a woman at all, it was a man, and he immediately recognized who it was. It was Master Disaster. 

Bumblebee saw him reach for something on his belt, more than likely the controller, but before he was able to point it at Bumblebee, he jumped into the ditch by the side of the road and darted off into the woods.

“Get back here!” He heard Master Disaster angrily, scream after him, but there was no way Bumblebee was going to follow that order. He refused to be put back under the power of that controller ever again. He was so close to finally getting out of this mess that he could almost taste victory. But most importantly, Blitzwing hadn't given up his own chance at escaping just so Bumblebee could be recaptured. Blitzwing had trusted him when Bumblebee had promised to come back with help, and he couldn’t just let Blitzwing's sacrifice be for nothing.

Bumblebee continued running. Sharp bushes scraped against the plating of his legs and branches kept slapping him in the faceplate, but he couldn't stop now. Even when the wound on his ped reopened and became a white hot flame of agony did he not stop running.

A weak light shone through the forest, probably from a flashlight, but it was just enough to keep Bumblebee from accidentally running into trees.

Bumblebee was bigger than Master Disaster, and he could technically out run him, but in a forest full of tree branches and other obstacles his size only left him at a disadvantage, leaving Master Disaster with plenty of time to catch up.

Bumblebee continued to run haphazardly through the forest until the trees started to thin out and he felt the soft crunch of sand under his peds as he was once again confronted by the river.

He remembered how the current had almost swept him away the last time he'd tried to cross, and it didn't look any less daunting now that he was trapped by it.

He glanced over his shoulder, he could still clearly see the light shining out from behind the trees, meaning that Master Disaster still was very much on his trail, but there was no way for Bumblebee to accurately guess how close he was.

He looked back, and focused on the sandy bank on the other side of the river.

There was no way Master Disaster, being a fragile human, could follow him across the river and if he made it to the other side he could hide in the dense forest where Master Disaster's truck wouldn't be able to drive.

Bumblebee didn't have much time to consider other options, so he just went with his first instinct and he started walking into the river.

He waded in as quickly as possible, and immediately felt the current starting to pull at his legs. He was positive that when he finally reached the deeper parts of the river his plan would be made 100% more difficult.

Suddenly, a light was cast over him, and before he entirely knew what was happening, his frame came to a complete stop with the cold water only up to his waist. 

He urgently tried to take another step but he couldn't. Bumblebee slowly felt dread seep through every one of his circuits as he realised he'd been caught.

“You slippery eel.” He heard an out of breath voice call out from behind him. The harsh painting doing nothing to hide how furious Master Disaster sounded. 

Bumblebee was forced to turn around and begin the slow walk out of the water. Master Disaster stood on the riverbank waiting for him with the controller in one hand and a flashlight in the other.

It was still hard to make out details, but the scowl on Master Disaster's face was unmistakable. He smiled wryly at him, but it did nothing to distract from how his eyes burned with rage.

“You have no idea just what kind of trouble you're in.” He said, his voice a dangerous growl. The light and snarky tone he normally used was gone as he stared up at him with hate. His grip of the controller was so tight it looked like if he gripped it any harder he might break it.

Bumblebee didn't even know how to feel as he was forced to face his captor. 

Bumblebee wanted to respond but his mouth refused to cooperate, leaving him to only create muffled noises. That didn’t stop Bumblebee though, as he screamed and cursed behind his closed lips while glaring at the man.

Master Disaster just glared back hatefully and didn’t bother acknowledging Bumblebee's angry protests as he forced him to start walking back the way they'd come. 

They didn't stop walking until they were all the way back to where Master Disasters had parked his truck. 

He threw open the trailer doors and grabbed something from inside that turned out to be a collection of metal wires.

Bumblebee was forcefully left to climb inside and it was only then that he realised he wasn’t alone. A robot with a barrel for an arm was waiting for him. 

Bumblebee felt his legs give out as he was slammed onto the metal floor, which only succeeded in making his ped and helm hurt. He tried to let out a grunt in pain, but he was yet again denied that action as his mouth refused to open. 

Master Disaster began securing his arms and legs with the metal wire before he leaned down so he was less than an inch from Bumblebee's faceplate. 

“Now you listen here you discount childs toy, I won't be able to drive while keeping the controller on you so I'm going to leave you tied up back here. And if you even  _ think _ of trying to escape, this here robot” Master Disaster nodded his head towards the automation. “Will turn you into swiss cheese. So don’t try anything.” The last part was said in a harsh growl. 

Having said his piece, Master Disaster turned off the controller and put it back on his belt.

When Bumblebee finally gained back control of his frame Bumblebee began to scream as loud as he could.

“You fragger! You absolute glitch! You can’t keep me in here forever! ! Let me go! Let me go! LetmeLetmegoLetm-” Bumblebee just continued to scream as loud as he could. Master Disaster scowled.

“You’re only making things worse for yourself!” Bumblebee stopped his screaming just long enough to let out a scoff before he rolled his optics and resumed his screaming.

Master Disaster looked exasperated as he slammed closed the trailer door with no small amount of aggravation. 

Bumblebee would be lying if he said he didn't hold on to a small scrap of hope that something would come and save him. He'd take anything! Why couldn't that nice truck lady show up? Or frag, even his team! He could really use a deus ex machina right now! 

But none of those things happened. His team was still in Detroit, and the glowing headlights of the woman's truck were nowhere to be seen.

The door to the truck closed and he heard the distinct sound of rattling chains being used along with the soft 'click' of a padlock. Left in the pitch black of the trailer as well as being immobilised left him feeling more miserable than ever.

He'd been so close. If that woman had just been a little quicker coming back, or maybe if he'd been able to get the first car to stop, he could have made it. But it would seem that all his escape attempts were meant to end in failure.

Blitzwing had sacrificed so much in the belief that Bumblebee could save them both and all he'd managed to do was stumbling around in the woods for a while and then get tied up in the back of a trailer. How could he ever look Blitzwing in the optic after wasting their only opportunity or escape? He'd failed them both.

He felt tears starting to fill his optics as he laid there feeling defeated and miserable in the cold dark of the truck.

_ ‘I’m so sorry Blitz. I couldn’t keep my promise. I’m sorry that I lied to you.’ _

And with that the truck's engine started up and Bumblebee felt how it reversed back onto the road before driving away.


	16. Chapter 16

Bumblebee wasn't sure how long he'd been trapped in the trailer before Master Disaster's truck finally came to a stop.

A few minutes later he heard the rustling of chains and then a familiar ‘click' as something was unlocked.

The doors to the trailer were then thrown open, suddenly sending light into the pitch black of his makeshift prison.

As soon as Bumblebee finished blinking the bright spots out of his optics he saw Master Disaster standing front and center with a familiar remote control trained on him. He then felt himself lose control of his frame as Master Disaster began the slow task of untying all the metal wires, making sure to keep the controller pointed at him at all times.

Bumblebee was then forced to stand and they both walked in silence before Bumblebee was greeted with a familiar sight. The entrance to Master Disaster evil lair. Bumblebee let out a deep sigh of frustration as he was forced to walk back into the base. Though, what Bumblebee saw inside surprised him.

The floor was covered with broken glass and the ceiling lamps were turned off, no wait they hadn't just been turned off, they'd been destroyed! The glass had been shattered and the lamps themselves seemed to have been crushed, leading to the only remaining light source to come from cheap battery driven lamps that had been strategically placed throughout the hallway. 

Bumblebee was forced to keep walking, but he did take the time to examine the destroyed room before Master Disaster started to talk.

“I was out of the base when you escaped.” He started “Then out of the blue I got an alert that you and the big oaf escaped.” Bumblebee scowled at the rude way he referred to Blitzwing, but he didn’t interrupt, he was actually kind of interested in where this story was going. “When I got back, you were missing and your dumb roommate had busied himself with destroying literally everything he could get his hands on!” Master Disaster growled. “Every door, lamp, robot, everything was destroyed!" He yelled, "The only things that survived were in rooms with doorways too small for him to fit through!” Bumblebee felt his lips quirk up into a smirk. The idea of Blitzwing deciding to raise hell after realising he wasn’t going to escape put a smile on his faceplate.

But that smile soon faded when the sound of rattling chains echoed throughout the hallway. It reminded Bumblebee of how it had sounded when Blitzwing had fought the shackles on his arms, but this time it sounded like there were a lot more chains involved.

Without any warning a frame chilling screech rang out. It sounded extremely angry but there was a frightened desperation to it, almost as if some earth animal was caught in a trap and was now crying out in mortal fear. After a moment a whirl sounded and the scream morphed into hysterical laughter. Bumblebee recognised Random's characteristic laugh, but there was something very wrong with it this time. He couldn’t quite put a digit on it but somehow it was different from its usual carefree tone. 

The laughter sounded alarmingly panicked, there was no true amusement in Blitzwing's laughter this time, it was loud and Bumblebee could only really describe the sound as manic.

Bumblebee felt something snap inside him at the sounds of hysteria coming from wherever Blitzwing was being held. He wanted to find him and make sure he was alright, but while still under Master Disaster control all he could do was listen.

Bumblebee's spark sank all the way into his fuel tank as he became more worried about whatever was happening to Blitzwing, but any feelings of concern were soon accompanied by a burning wrath.

Bumblebee helm snapped towards Master Disaster, his optics filled with a thunderous rage. 

“What did you do to him?!” He yelled. " _If he's put one digit on him I swear to Primus I’ll…_ ’ Master Disaster cut him off before Bumblebee could finish that thought.

“I didn't do a thing to him.” He hissed. “I tied him down more securely and after that he just started going crazy, screaming and laughing the whole time! I think that lunatic finally blew a fuse or something.” A surprisingly deep growl crept up Bumblebees intake, so deep that it almost surprised Bumblebee himself.

“Don’t you dare talk about him that way. ” Bumblebee said in a low voice. Master Disaster met his gaze, and even though Bumblebee literally couldn’t move a digit against him, Master Disaster did seem a little intimidated by Bumblebee's threatening display. Eventually though, he just scoffed and went back to staring forward, choosing to avoid Bumblebee's optics.

They walked through the hallway and the longer they walked the louder the laughter became. Bumblebee felt worry creep into his spark. He was getting seriously concerned about how Blitzwing would react to his return, but he was also worried about how badly Blitzwing might have been treated in his absence.

They walked down a familiar hallway until they came to a cellblock Bumblebee had hoped to never see again. The door must have been replaced while he was gone, considering when he'd last seen it, Blitzwing had pretty much destroyed it.

Only once they drew closer, and their footsteps became an audible presence, did Blitzwings laughter finally die down. The building then became eerily silent, with the only sound Bumblebee could make out being the nervous racing of his own spark. 

It took a few minutes before Bumblebee could get a clear look at the inside of the cell but even when he was close enough it was hard to see anything because of how dark it was. The same cheap floor lamp that had been used in the hallway had replaced the destroyed ceiling lights and were now the only light source used inside.

When his optics finally adjusted to the poor lighting he instinctively turned towards the wall Blitzwing had been chained too, only to realise he wasn’t there. The chains had been replaced with an empty set that were smaller and hung much lower to the ground. 

Once Bumblebee could comprehend what he was seeing he took in the rest of the cell and only then did he catch sight of Blitzwing.

Blitzwing was strapped down to the floor with cuffs on both wrists and ankles, and there were multiple chains going across his chest and waist. It looked like Master Disaster hadn't wanted to take any chances of them escaping this time as he'd had Blitzwing restrained so completely as to be nearly immobile.

Bumblebee's optics finally landed on Blitzwing's faceplate and when their optics met Blitzwing looked back in surprise, but then he seemed to draw his own conclusion as to what must have happened and his optics were quickly filled with a look of despair. 

Bumblebee felt shame grip his spark. Blitzwing looked so tired, with dark smudges under his optics and an overall look of extreme exhaustion. 

Master Disaster unlocked the cell door, and Bumblebee could feel himself being forced to walk inside, but this time was different. The last time he'd made an escape attempt Master Disaster had just thrown him back in and left. This time Bumblebee walked until he was flush with the wall, before putting his own servos into the new set of cuffs. He'd only had them on for a few nano clicks but he could already feel how sharp and unrefined the jagged edges were and it soon became abundantly clear how Blitzwing had managed to hurt his wrists.

Only once the cuffs were locked around his wrists did Bumblebee feel the remote's influence leaving him. Finally, having control over his own frame back Bumblebee turned around and glared out of the cell bars as he observed the man. Master Disaster was still looking decidedly angry as he spent a long moment just glowering down at both Bumblebee and Blitzwing before letting out an annoyed huff and storming off without a word.

The room remained silent even after Master Disaster had left their line of sight. 

Bumblebee stayed quiet, not knowing where to start or even what to say to the bound triple changer. Thankfully, though Blitzwing was more than willing to break the silence.

“Aww, back so soon?” He said, obviously trying to defuse the awkward silence, but he failed at sounding completely natural. ”Did you miss me so much you just had to come back?” His voice was far less exuberant than was normal and as much as Bumblebee wanted to smile and say something just as blase in response. He just couldn’t. Bumblebee didn’t have any energy or the optimism left to make light of their current situation. Instead he looked down, too ashamed to meet Blitzwing's optics.

“I’m so sorry I couldn’t return with help Blitz.” HIs voice was a meek whisper filled with regret, unsure how to voice how genuinely upset he was that his return had only brought more disappointment. 

Blitzwing was quiet for a moment before his faceplate switched to Icy.

“It’s fine, We’ll both just have to do better next time.” Blitzwing sounded genuine, and by his tone of voice it seemed like he'd picked up on just how upset Bumblebee was to have failed to return with help and was, in his own way, trying to let Bumblebee know he didn't blame him for it. 

Blitzwing saying that did make Bumblebee feel a little better, and It sure felt nice to know that Blitzwing wasn’t going to yell at him about his recent failure. Still, Bumblebee audibly swallowed.

“I also wanted to say that I'm really sorry for being such an aft to you before we escaped.” 

“It’s alright,” He said, his voice still having that soft quality. “You were upset, I understand.” Blitzwing was quiet for a moment longer before he continued. “You know, if you start feeling like that again, you can talk to me alright? “ His faceplate then immediately switched to Random “I don’t want a repeat of you trying to climb the bars!” He let out a cackling laugh.

Things were quiet for a while after that. Bumblebee didn’t know what to say next, and if he was being completely honest, he was still too upset to really carry on a conversation. Even if Blitzwing didn't seem at all concerned with his failure to bring back help, Bumblebee was. He felt as if he'd let Blitzwing down by allowing himself to be captured again, and perhaps even more unfortunate, in the wake of their unsuccessful breakout Master Disaster had decided to crack down and make their living conditions ten times worse! 

Blitzwing's faceplate switched back to Icy before suddenly speaking up,

“Bumblebee, do you think you could… talk about something?” Blitzwing's voice sounded… off. It was strained in an odd way and with the halted way he spoke he seemed almost dazed. As if despite being chained to the floor his processor was actually millions of miles away. 

Bumblebee looked at him confusedly.

“Talk about what?” He asked.

“Anything, anything at all." He paused to give a nervous swallow, "You could talk about your team, the human friend you're always hanging out with, earth culture, just, just please talk about something.” Bumblebee now saw how Blitzwing's digits curled futility against the concrete, as if he were trying to dig them into tha stone floor to anchor himself. The floor around his bound servos bore several large gouges revealing this wasn't the first time he'd done this.

Bumblebee's confusion was soon overtaken by worry. Something was wrong, he'd already known that, but Blitzwing was acting so strangely right now Bumblebee was starting to get seriously concerned.

“Are you okay?” Bumblebee asked.

“I just… I need a distraction.” was Blitzwing's answer. Bumblebee remained silent for a moment longer and just observed the other mech, and the longer he did the more worrying details were revealed.

Blitzwing venting was the first thing he noticed. It was quick and shallow, almost as if he were having trouble drawing enough air into his vents, or like his vents were being crushed under some invisible weight. His optics were large and kept moving quickly around the room, never stopping in one direction for too long, almost like he was expecting some hidden enemy to suddenly pop out and attack him.

Bumblebee was also suddenly made aware of just how badly Blitzwing was trembling, it looked like he was tensing every strut in his frame, as if he were trying to prepare himself for a fight or to be hurt.

Bumblebee's optics were then drawn to the sight of pink energon and he realised it was coming from Blitzwing's wrists. It looked like in the short time he'd been gone Blitzwing had managed to slice straight through both the bandages and into his black armor plating, which could only mean he'd been viciously struggling for some time, though Bumblebee chose to not to call attention to his silent observations. 

Bumblebee’s mind started working overtime as he desperately tried to come up with something to talk about, but now that he was put on the spot he couldn't think of a subject. He eventually decided to just start rambling and hope that a subject presented itself.

“Has Master Disaster made you fight by yourself while I've been gone?” Blitzwing's optics seemed to clear a bit at his question and he looked a little less tense at finally having something to focus on. 

“No, I've been here the whole time.” Bumblebee honestly felt a little surprised at that response. 

“You haven’t been out of this cell at all?!” He asked. “Then what about getting fuel after a match?” Blitzwing shook his helm.

“He hasn't given me any.” That piece of knowledge had Bumblebee gritting his denta. He knew he wasn’t supposed to hurt humans, because they were super fragile and stuff, but if he ever got out of here he'd give Master Disaster at least one good punch, he wouldn’t die from that surely? And let's be real here, he totally had it coming after all the slag he'd put them through. 

Bumblebee quickly tried to think up another question.

“If you've been tied up here the whole time, then why do you look so tired?” and Blitzwing did look terrible, if what Blitzwing was saying was true, then why hadn't he used the down time to recharge and regain some of his lost energy? If He really hadn’t been out fighting in the arena then why did he look so exhausted? This whole thing just didn't make any sense. 

Blitzwing took a long time to reply, and when he finally did answer it was spoken in a barely audible murmur. 

“It’s because I haven’t been recharging.” Bumblebee's optics widened in shock.

“What?! Why?!” He asked, but Blitzwing still refused to meet his optics. He remained silent for so long that Bumblebee started to question if he was going to get a response at all.

“The nightmares have been worse than normal ” He finally said with an exhausted sigh. "It's gotten bad enough that recharging has become impossible." Bumblebee looked at him in absolute shock. He'd known that Blitzwing had bad nightmares, but up to this point he'd never seen them get bad enough that he couldn't fall into recharge! Could they have really gotten so bad while he'd been gone? Bumblebee was only getting more worried with every new question answered.

“You have to recharge!” He suddenly shouted. “If you haven’t since before I tried to climb the bars and you didn't get any after I left then that means…” Bumblebee tried to calculate the math in his helm and he was slowly filled with dawning horror as he came up with a result “You've been awake for three nights straight! I don't know how you haven't already collapsed!” Bumblebee said, continuing to berate him. This whole thing felt like the same song and dance they'd already gone through when Blitzwing had refused to walk back into the cell voluntarily, and had willfully starved himself. If Blitzwing didn’t rest soon there was a high probability that he'd end up passing out at a crucial time, and it didn't help that the Cybertronian frame could go much longer without fuel than it could without quality recharge, so this was a seriously pressing concern.

Blitzwing's faceplate switched to Hothead.

“Don’t you think I know that!?” He shouted at him. “Don't you think I've tried?! If I could we wouldn't be having this conversation! So just let it go!” Bumblebee scowled at him, not even trying to hide his displeasure, but he eventually decided to drop it.

Had Blitzwing's nightmares really gotten that bad? Bumblebee wanted desperately to do something, but he was currently chained up just the same as Blitzwing used to be, so he didn't have many options left to his disposal. He was quiet for a long time as he tried to think of something, before suddenly an idea hit him. It hadn’t worked the last time he'd tried, but hey, it was worth a shot.

“My offer still stands you know.” Bumblebee said slowly. Blitzwing raised an optic ridge before switching to Icy.

“What offer?” He asked, his voice holding a hint of confusion.

“The offer to tell me about your nightmares,” Bumblebee elaborated. “If you want to talk about it I'll lend an audio. Maybe talking about it will make you feel better.” Blitzwing stayed quiet after that and it looked as if he was silently arguing with himself, and It took a while, but he slowly started to come around.

“My nightmares are a bit more personal than just a bad dream.” Blitzwing said slowly, as if he was trying to pick each word carefully. Bumblebee raised and optic ridge.

“How come?” He asked. Blitzwing bit his lip for a moment before continuing. 

“What I see is not a dream, it's an old memory that keeps replaying over and over behind my optics whenever I attempt to recharge.” His trembling only seemed to get worse as he continued. “Usually it's not this bad." He gave a shuddering breath, "The nightmares usually only hold the barest hints of the original memory, or sometimes just familiar bits and pieces. But ever since I've been tied up like this.” Blitzwing tried again to move, causing the chains and straps that littered his frame to strain under the pressure. “It's stopped being just a dream and returned to the original memory. I'm made to relive it everytime I recharge… And, and I just can’t take it... It feels too real.” Bumblebee had never seen Blitzwing like this before. Sounding so vulnerable and small.

Blitzwing was such a strong mech and hearing his voice so unfamiliar and sad made Bumblebee's spark ache for him. 

The idea that this Decepticon powerhouse had such a bad memory it kept him up at night, and that it held the power to make him so unbelievably vulnerable had Bumblebee's spark pulsing with sympathy.

Bumblebee wanted so badly to go over there and offer comfort. He wanted to hold him in his arms until he felt better, but while he was tied to the wall and Blitzwing was held down on the floor, there wasn't much else they could do but talk. So Bumblebee would just have to make the best of it.

“Do you want to tell me about it?” Bumblebee repeated, trying to make his voice sound as comforting and non judgemental as he possibly could. Blitzwing was quiet for another long moment before he finally replied.

“Yes…” He sounded almost ashamed. Bumblebee felt a sliver of hope at the prospect of Blitzwing finally revealing what was going on, and that he might finally learn what the dream was about. Blitzwing bit his lip for a moment longer before continuing.

“If I tell you this, you can’t let anyone else know.” He said, trying to keep his voice steady, but Bumblebee could still pick up on the way it trembled. “It’s…” His voice died down for a moment before he swallowed and tried again. “It’s very personal information, and if used correctly, it could be used as a weapon against me.” Bumblebee felt his spark pulse quicken. 

Whatever this dream was about, it was suddenly made abundantly clear just how difficult it was for Blitzwing to speak about it, and he was about to trust _Bumblebee_ with this sensitive information!

He was essentially offering Bumblebee a knife to hold to his throat and he was trusting him not to cut it. Blitzwing was placing a huge amount of trust in him, even though he'd already failed to deliver on his last promise and had failed to bring back help. Bumblebee felt as if he'd already betrayed his trust once, but he swore this time he wouldn't. No matter what Blitzwing decided to tell him, Bumblebee had already decided that he'd carry that information to the allspark. 

“I swear that no matter what you tell me, I'll never breathe a word of it to anyone.” Bumblebee said, as he tried to show he took Blitzwing's warning seriously. He knew he had a bad habit of rambling, but he wasn't going to let whatever Blitzwing chose to tell him slip out no matter what.

Blitzwing finally looked up and met his optics, and ever so slowly a somewhat forced smile crept up his lips, but it trembled as if the weight of what he had to say was too much and eventually it fell as he looked away again.

The cell was quiet for a long time and Bumblebee could visibly tell that Blitzwing's trembling was getting worse as he seemed to be trying to calm his uneven venting. Bumblebee just wanted him to start already. He knew he had a problem with being patient, but for this he forced himself to stay quiet as he waited for Blitzwing to prepare himself.

Finally after a few more shaky ex-vents, he began trying to tell his story.

“It all started about 3 Deca-cycles after the last of my trimates was taken offline…

* * *

Three angry knocks at his door suddenly broke the silence of his room. Blitzwing didn’t bother to respond to or even indicate he heard the person on the other side as he continued to lay silently on his berth.

However, despite his reluctance to grant entry to whoever was knocking, his door was suddenly flung open and a familiar angry voice screamed at him as the bright hallway light flooded into his dismal space. 

“Blitzwing! Why haven’t yo- Sweet Primus!” Blitzwing put just the barest amount of effort into turning his helm, and observed Starscream with a single optic.

Starscream didn't meet his gaze though, as he was currently staring wide eyed at the sheer chaos his room had become. 

Cubes of energon were stacked into haphazard towers that seemed to almost deify the laws of physics by not falling yet, and the ones Blitzwing hadn't bothered stacking were left to litter the floor. 

Some of the cubes still had a few mouthfuls worth of energon left and the overturned ones had started to leave syrupy, pink puddles as they spilled their contents all over the floor. There were also some broken energon cube pieces on the floor and a big pink stain on one of the walls, hinting that at least one of the cubes and been thrown against said wall.

His whole room had become a wreck with the only areas untouched by the disorder being the two empty berths belonging to his late trinemates. It seemed as if they were the only thing Blitzwing had put actual effort into keeping clean as they not only appeared to be exempt from the controlled chaos of the rest of the room, but they also looked to have been cleaned recently, despite not being in use for some time.

Starscream just took in the mess around him before his optics finally zeroed in on Blitzwing.

“Why does your room look like a scrap yard?” He asked in that annoying voice of his. Blitzwing just shrugged, he _really_ didn’t feel like dealing with the second in command today, not that he ever did.

“If I knew I'd have guests coming over I might have cleaned up.” He said, his voice drenched in sarcasm, something that apparently wasn’t lost on Starscream as his optics narrowed dangerously.

“Is this how you show respect for the Decepticon second in command?! Stop laying there like an empty husk!” He screamed. Blitzwing didn’t make any attempts to actually get up as he continued to just glare at the other mech.

“I’ll show you respect when you have something to be respected for.” He said and let out a small laugh.

Strascream's optics burned with anger, but instead of responding to Blitzwing's verbal jab, he instead pulled a data pad out of his subspace and pointed to it angrily.

“Why haven’t you been working?!” He barked. “You've been called to assist in at least seven different assignments but you never showed up! Why is that!?” Blitzwing just glared back at him, he'd honestly expected something like this to happen as his multiple absences couldn't be ignored forever, but that didn’t make this confrontation any easier. He simply remained silent as Starscream only seemed to grow angrier.

“Well!? Has your mouth been welded shut?! Answer me!” 

“I’m sick” Blitzwing finally answered, his voice lower now. Strascream's expression turned to confusion.

“Sick? You haven’t been working because you're sick?!!” Starscream screeched. “Have you at least gone to the med bay?!” Blitzwing looked down before finally answering.

“Yes” Starscream tapped his ped impatiently.

“And?! What did they say?! Why haven’t you handed in a report?!”

“Because they didn’t find anything physically wrong with me.” Starscream looked angry enough to blow a fuse.

“If they didn't find anything wrong with you, then you're not sick!” He angrily screeched.

Blitzwing glared up at him.

“I am sick!” He yelled back. “I'm getting better but I still need more time! So, just leave me alone!” Starscream pointed an accusing digit at him.

“All you're doing is free loading! Just laying around in here, consuming energon for free, while the rest of us work our afts off!” Blitzwing just glared at him futilely before finally turning around so his back was towards the door. Why couldn’t he just be left alone?

“Don’t you turn your back on me!” He heard Starscream yell, as he moved a few steps closer, having to kick some of the empty cubes out of his path in order to advance. 

Blitzwing felt something grab his leg and in the next moment he was yanked out of his berth and dragged down onto the floor. Blitzwing looked up as Starscream glowered down at him before showing him a message on his data pad.

“You have patrol duty with Lugnut tomorrow morning, I’m sending the details to your data pad, and you better not miss it. If you can't prove yourself to be useful then we’ll make another use out of you.” Blitzwing got onto his peds and took a menacing step towards Starscream, getting right in his face. Starscream unintentionally took a step backwards at the display.

Blitzwing was surprisingly well built for a seeker, he wasn't necessarily made for speed as he was more heavily armored then others of his class, and his frame clearly showed that, putting Starscream, with his more slender frame, at a disadvantage. Starscream let out an aggravated huff at the display.

“Don’t miss it.” He snarled before he finally turned around and slammed Blitzwing's door, plunging the room back into a state of darkness.

Blitzwing did end up showing up. He was a bit surprised at himself to have actually left his room for something other than to just grab another cube from the cafeteria and add it to his growing collection.

He was currently patrolling the halls of the base with Lugnut. He'd never really interacted a lot with Lugnut before, so he couldn't really say much about the other mech except that he was known as a Megatron fanatic, and his worship of the Decepticon leader could come off as a little creepy. 

Blitzwing had always chalked up all those rumors as simply an over exaggeration, but he'd been wrong. It seemed like the description of the big oaf was incredibly accurate if not a understatement.

Like how Lugnut was currently bombarding him with how great he thought Megatron was, how nothing could possibly compare to his leadership skills and his intellect and it just kept going. Blitzwing was trying to tune out as much of his rambling as he could, and only occasionally picked up Lugnuts voice and whatever part of their “glorious leader” he'd currently decided to praise. 

Primus, he just wanted this whole thing to be over with so he could return to his room. He didn't want to be out here walking around with this annoying dim-spark any longer than he had to. 

Blitzwing couldn't ever remember patrolling being this tedious, but that was probably because in the past he'd done it with people he actually _liked_ and enjoyed being around. He winced as his spark tried to reach out for a bond that was no longer there. They were all gone now though, and here he was left with Lugnut. There couldn't have been a worse downgrade.

Blitzwing's thoughts were rudely interrupted when Lugnut suddenly shouted his name.

“Blitzwing!” Blitzwing flinched hard at the sudden noise, but he quickly regained his composer and turned his sights to Lugnut, his optics cold as ice.

“What?” He hissed between his denta, voice like venom.

“I haven’t seen you around recently, where have you been?” Lugnut asked, his main optic telescoping in suspicion.

“Mind your own business” Blitzwing sneered, but Lungut wasn’t that easily dissuaded.

“If you've done work for our great leader then you should be more than happy to proclaim such things.” Lugnut was quiet as he thought his statement over. “Unless you haven’t been serving our magnificent lord?” Blitzwing gave him an exasperated glare.

“I told you to stay in your lane.” 

“You're avoiding the question.” Lugnut pointed out. “Is it really true that you haven’t worked since your trine joined the allspark?”

Blitzwing stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned back towards Lugnut with rage burning in his optics.

“Shut your mouth before I rip your glossa out.” Blitzwing said in a low growl. Lugnut simply met him with a glare of his own. They stood at an impasse, just sizing each other up; before finally, Lugnut responded.

“They were simply too weak to survive. They died for the Decepticon cause, which is the most honorable way any of us may join the allspark, but they are still failures for being unable to survive long enough to to see Cybertron return to a Decepti-” Lugnut never got to finish his speech because in the next moment Blitzwing was delivering a viscous punch to Lugnut's faceplate.

Lugnut stumbled back a few steps from the unexpected attack. 

Blitzwing had a look of murder on his faceplate, his fists were clenched and his optics were burning with rage.

“Don’t you dare speak ill of them you glitch! How dare you say they failed! You ugly piece of scrap I swear if you say one more thing I’ll make _you_ a failure to the cause yo-” Lugnut shot forward and swung one of his large fists at him, but Blitzwing was able to quickly duck underneath it and dig in his clawed digits in, leaving silver streaks across Lugnut's paint and was able to move behind him.

When Lugnut turned around to face him, he did not look happy.

Blitzwing smirked and held up his fists, clearly daring Lugnut to try something else.

The hallway was quickly filled with their fellow Decepticons as the normal sounds of the base were overpowered by the sounds of cheering, whistling and the placing of bets. Everyone eagerly awaited the next move of the two mechs. 

Lugnuts optic narrowed dangerously as he lifted his arm straight up and prepared to use “the punch”.

All the cons who had been happily cheering the fight on suddenly stopped and the sound of screams and panic rang out as they each tried to flee the area, until one voice rose above the chaos.

“What do the two of you think you're doing?!” Both Blitzwing and Lugnut snapped their helms towards the voice and saw that Blackarachnia was walking towards them. 

“He’s been taking advantage of our glorious leader's generosity and-” Blackarachnia cut Lugnut off.

“I don’t care what he has or hasn't done. What I do care about is that you're about to blow this entire base sky high” Lugnut glared at her.

“He must to be punished for his insolence!” Blacharachnia rolled her optics as she gave Lugnut a look that indicated she thought him to be a complete idiot.

“And how do you think Lord Megatron will react to knowing you blew up his base?” Lugnuts seemed to have a small moment of realisation, but before he could respond Blitzwing turned around and started walking away. Lugnuts helm snapped after him.

“Where do you think you're going?!” He shouted. Blitzwing didn’t dignify him with an answer and threw a rude hand gesture over his shoulder before walking out of sight.

Blitzwing was once again laying face down in his berth, it'd almost been an entire Deca-cycle since his fight with Lugnut and after that, he'd returned to his room and made it a point to ignore any and all summonses in an attempt to simply stay away from other mechs as much as possible.

He heard an elegant knock on the door and he let out an angry huff.

“I swear to Primus if you're here to bother me about going back to work I swear I’ll-” But when the door opened, it wasn't Starscream on the other side, it was Megatron. “L-lord Megatron!” Blitzwing stammered, his voice immediately losing its frustrated tone as he flew out of the berth and kneeled before the Decepticon leader. “Please forgive my rudeness my lord. I-I thought you were-” 

“Starscream?” Megatron finished for him, his eerily calm voice sending chills down Blitzwing's backstruts.

“Y-yes Sir.” Blitzwing admitted, his voice meek. He stayed kneeled as he worried about how his leader would react to seeing the clear disrespect he'd shown the second in command. But Megatron didn’t look offended.

“You are forgiven.” Megatron responded coolly. Blitzwing felt relief wash over him. “At ease.” Blitzwing slowly rose back to his peds, making a conscious effort to keep his head bowed. “I want you to walk with me.” Megatron said, and without waiting for Blitzwing to respond he turned around and began walking away.

Blitzwing hastily attempted to catch up with him, and he noticed Megatron glance over his shoulder to be sure he was following before motioned for him to come walk beside him.

Blitzwing quickly made his way over so that they could walk shoulder to shoulder.

Blitzwing had no idea what this was about. He'd assumed it must be about his failure to work, but if that was the case then why did they need to go somewhere else? Couldn’t they have spoken just as easily in his room? Also, Megatron's throne room was in the other direction, so unless they were taking the long way around, they probably weren’t heading there.

Blitzwing looked up towards Megatron and spoke up carefully.

“My lord where are we going?” He asked. Megatron gave him a short glance before returning his optics to the hallway that stretched before them.

“You’ll find out soon enough.” He said with what sounded like a smirk. Blitzwing could only nod, as he didn't dare ask for further clarification.

They walked a bit longer before coming to a door marked with: “authorized personnel only” Megatron opened the door without pause and motioned for Blitzwing to do the same.

Blitzwing had never been in this part of the base before. Everything was so white and pristine. The walls were white, the floors were white, even the ceiling was white.

The smell of chemicals and strong cleaning agents soon hit him, this whole place reminded him very strongly of a med bay.

They continued walking until they reached another door that they then entered. 

The Inside was just as clean as the other room, but in the middle sat a medical berth with metal straps. This room also appeared to be full of equipment, liquids, and there were several machines on the far wall spitting out data that he could never hope to understand. 

There were also five mechs standing at the ready, one of whom he recognised as Blackarachnia.

He looked at it all with confusion, not yet understanding why Megatron had brought him to this place.

“My lord, what is this about?” Blitzwing finally asked, as Megatron turned towards him, staring him straight in the optic.

“Tell me Blitzwing, have you ever heard of the triple changer program?” He asked. Blitzwing was taken off guard, of course he'd heard of it, everyone had, but it was all only hearsay. 

There was no way you could actually give Cybertronians a second altmode, stories like that were just tall tales. 

Still, there had been rumors circulating that such a thing had been attempted, but if there was any truth to it, nobody had ever lived long enough to say. 

“It’s just a myth, my lord” Blitzwing said, “An idealistic rumor about being able to give Cybertronians a second alt mode.” Megatron's lips quirked up into a smirk at his answer and the look he kept giving him sent chills down Blitzwing's frame.

“That's where you're wrong Blitzwing, the program is no simple work of fiction.” Blitzwing gawked at him as Megatron continued. “And because you've been living off Decepticons resources for some time without giving anything back I've decided that you shall be volunteered as part of the project.” Blitzwing just stared at Megatron in surprise, he'd had a bad feeling ever since he walked into this room. He attempted to shake it off as he tried to form a reply.

“I’m honored my lord, but surely there must be some kind of mistake.” Megatron lifted an optic ridge.

“A mistake? How so?” He asked. 

“I’m sorry my lord, but I am neither a doctor nor a scientist.” Blitzwing explained, as Megatron's momentary confusion began to dissipate.

“Oh no, you misunderstand me, I'm volunteering you for a… slightly different position.” He put a servo on Blitzwings shoulder. “Would you like to help the Decepticon cause by submitting your own frame for triple changer upgrade?” Blitzwing felt his spark still as Megatron's grip on his shoulder became almost painful.

Blitzwing took a forceful step back, freeing himself from Megatron's grip. 

“I’m truly honored by such an offer my lord, really I am, but I'll have to decline.” Megatron's smile dropped which only made the bad feeling in his spark grow stronger.

“Oh, that is unfortunate.” Megatron said slowly. Before turning his sight towards the other individuals in the room. “Did you hear that?” He said, his voice chilling. 

Blackarachnia graced him with a malicious smile.

“That sounded like a yes to me.” What transpired next happened so fast Blitzwing barely had time to register it.

At once the other people in the room dogpiled on top of him, their multiple servos grabbing him and trying to hold him down. All the while Blackarachnia and Megatron simply looked on in amusement. 

Blitzwing immediately started putting up a fight as he attempted to shove them off, but there were so many that for every one servo he managed to wrench out of, three more took their place and over time they were eventually able to drag him towards the medical berth. Its multiple straps suddenly, starting to look much more ominous. 

He tried to pull his arms free of their grip and he kicked his legs, but most of his movement had already been restricted, he eventually started screaming and shouting anything that might convince them to let him go, but his words fell on deaf audios. 

He was then slammed down onto the medical berth, several mechs forcing him down against the cold metal as he was forcefully strapped into it. Blitzwing again tried to fight against the restraints but they were much too strong. The straps were soon secured around every one of his joints, making it impossible to move anything other than his neck and helm.

He felt panic start to consume him as he valiantly continued trying to free himself, scraping off paint as he thrashed against the restraints that were locked around his wrists and ankles, his venting quickening to the point of hyperventilation. 

Several scientists began inserting tubes and needles under his plating as others started hooking him up to different machines. All the while he was helpless to do anything but watch. 

His demands for freedom soon turned into whimpered pleas but instead of being rewarded with looks of sympathy, all he could see were expressions of annoyance, as if his hysterical screaming was only proving to be a source of irritation.

Primus, he was going to be forcefully experimented on! And perhaps the worst part of this whole thing was that he had no way of knowing if he'd even survive the procedure. And if he did he had no idea what the result or after effects of it would be.

His optics scanned the room before finally landing on Megatron. He was just standing there, watching it all with a causal air of disinterest. Blitzwing tried calling out to him.

“Lord Megatron, please! I-I beg you! Please reconsider! I’ll do better! I’ll work more! I’ll be your most loyal soldier! you have my word!” He begged desperately, but Megatron simply looked at him before a tiny smirk crawled up his lips.

“If you end up surviving this, I'll consider making you one of my top lieutenants." He answered and Blitzwing felt himself lose what little hope he had left as Megatron walked out the door. Leaving Blitzwing behind.

Almost immediately after Blackarachnia entered his field of view.

She watched him with a cruel smile spread across her lips. She then pulled out a marker and began drawing lines on his frame, Blitzwing knew it wasn't sharp but every new line drawn seemed to leave behind a fiery trail almost as if he could already feel her cutting into him. He started to squirm away, and only managed to make her straight lines somewhat wobbly, and at this point he knew that there was no escaping his fate.

She grimaced at the off center lines before looking back up at him.

“Don’t worry sweetie, I’ll take good care of you.”

Blitzwing wasn’t sure what to make of Blackarachnia or her contradictory actions regarding him, but as soon as those words left her mouth he felt himself starting to laugh. His laughter only seemed to grow stronger as the seconds ticked by until his small chuckles grew into complete hysteria.

He saw several of the scientists take a step back as they looked at him with concern, but he couldn't stop.

He laughed until it hurt, until he was out of breath and large tears were running down his cheeks.

That was the last thing he remembered before he felt a pinch in his upper left arm causing a numbing coldness to spread throughout his energon lines. His laughter slowly descended into breathless snickers as he lost consciousness.

Blitzwing regained consciousness slowly, he could hear voices around him but they all sounded a bit muffled, as if he were listening from underwater. 

After regaining a few more of his senses he could already feel that something wasn't right. He still couldn't quite pinpoint exactly what was different, but he did know that something was very, very wrong with his frame.

Blitzwing painfully opened his optics. He could see the silhouette of a person hovering over him, he was pretty sure the figure was talking to him but it all just sounded like muffled nonsense. 

Suddenly, two digits were snapped in front of Blitzwing's faceplate and everything finally started to come into focus.

Blitzwing blinked quickly before his optics started to dart around the room. _‘Where, where am I?’_ Blitzwing thought, not recognising his surroundings.

He tried to stand up so he could get a better look at things, but he soon realized he was strapped down, and that's when the memories of what had just happened came flooding back. But before he could fully comprehend it all, the same mech snapped their digits again and Blitzwing turned towards the noise. 

He saw the mech that had been just a vague silhouette suddenly take the form of one of the scientists that had been helping to subdue him before the operation. The scientist snapped his digits again and smiled at having finally gotten Blitzwing's attention. 

“Congratulations. Your operation was a success.” Blitzwing felt rage build as he watched the smile grow on the mech that had tortured him, and without any warning he surged forward and bit down on the mechs servo.

He didn’t even know why he did it, it had just suddenly been an impulse he couldn't control. 

The mech howled in pain, but Blitzwing just bit down harder until he felt the warm taste of energon flood his mouth. Blitzwing absently realized that his dente were much longer and sharper than that he remembered. 

The mech was finally able to pull his servo free of Blitzwing's maw, but not without leaving behind three of his digits. Blitzwing spat them out in disgust.

The mech quickly disappeared from Blitzwing's field of view and he heard his hurried footsteps as they frantically fled the room.

Blitzwing once again attempted to stand up only to realise he couldn’t move at all and panic started to descend upon him. 

He needed to get out of here, he couldn’t stand the thought of being trapped here another minute, and he began to feel physically ill as his venting sped up and his spark raced.

He started straining against the straps that held him down with everything he had, he felt as them dug into his plating and scratched his paint, but he didn’t care! He needed to escape this place! He had to get out!

He pushed and struggled before finally with a loud ‘CLANG!’ He was able to break through the straps on his arms. He immediately sat up and was about to begin breaking the cuffs on his ankles when he froze.

These weren't his peds, he didn’t have tank treads. But if these weren't his, then why were they connected to his frame? Blitzwing began venting faster as he then reached down and tore apart the bonds that kept his legs restrained. He then put both legs over the side of the berth and tried to stand.

But as soon as he stood up he could feel how unnaturally heavy his frame had become as gravity forced him down to one knee. It was only by quickly grabbing the edge of the surgery table that he was able to stay upright. 

There was something wrong, why did he feel so heavy? Why were his peds covered in tank treads, why did his chest feel so much wider, and why did his wings feel so strange? 

He heard the sound of footsteps approaching and when he looked up he was met with the faceplate of a Decepticon medic whose expression was nothing short of horror.

Suddenly a whirl sounded and Blitzwing yelped as he felt a blistering pain invade his senses. He then turned back to the medic, the world having suddenly taken on a menacing red hue.

“What have you done to me?” He said, his voice now a deep growl. “What did you do?!” He then shouted loud enough to make the walls shake.

He saw the medic grabbing for a syringe from one of the adjacent medical tables before sprinting towards him. 

Blitzwing thrust out a servo in an attempt to scratch out her optics, only to realize his seeker talons were no longer there. All he'd been left with were smooth round digits. He lost momentary focus as he continued staring at his servos, trying to comprehend what he was seeing. 

He was suddenly forced out of his internal struggle when he felt a sting in his left arm. It seemed The medic had made use of Blitzwing's distraction and jabbed him with the needle. 

Blitzwing lunged towards the medic before grabbing her by the throat. She clawed at his servos and kicked at him with her legs, but Blitzwing could barely feel it as his plating had become much thicker. With a scream of rage and a strength he didn't remember possessing, he threw her into a wall. Her frame made a loud noise as she collided with the white metal, before she slumped to the ground unmoving.

Blitzwing looked down at his arm, and seeing as the syringe was still sticking out of his plating he scowled. Suddenly, a second whirl sounded and again his faceplate was flooded with agony. _‘What's going on!? What was that sound?!_ He then grabbed the needle and violently pulled it out before throwing it down onto the floor and stomping on it. 

He then forced himself to stand up, still feeling very off kilter, and he wondered if his sudden lack of balance could be because of the added weight that seemed to keep trying to drag him down.

He heard a door open and when he looked up, he was greeted by another no name scientist and Blackarachnia.

Blitzwing glared murderously at her.

“You.” He hissed at the techno organic. His optics then shifted to the damaged medical table before a new surge of pain came over him, but this time he ignored it.

He gripped the table and fueled by pure rage ripped it out of its support studs and lifted it up over his helm.

“Catch!” He yelled before he threw it at them. 

Blackarachnia dogged and was able to drop down quickly before scuttling underneath it. However, the lab technician wasn't as lucky, and the table ended up hitting them head on, throwing them to the ground and smacked their helm into the floor so hard their optics went dark. 

Blackarachnia wasted no time in transforming as she ran over the thrown table before scurrying off into the hallway.

“Leaving so soon?” Blitzwing called out after her with a malicious giggle. He started to follow after her, but with the overwhelming heaviness along with his newly modified frame, made it hard.

He felt his ped touch something and when he looked down he saw it was a metal tray made for holding medical equipment. 

He bent down to pick it up and as he brought the metal tray closer to his faceplate, using it as a mirror and he was left shocked at what he saw.

The face staring back at him wasn’t his.

The face staring back at him was pitch black in color and had, large jagged denta that looked as if they were made for ripping and tearing metal. Its mouth and eyes glowed an eerie red and the mouth was split across the middle leaving them with a constant wicked grin.

Blitzwing just continued staring at the metal tray in disbelief. This couldn't be his faceplate, why was his reflection showing someone else? 

He reached up a servo to inspect his own denta, and to his growing horror he realised that he could feel the sharp edges digging into his servos. 

“Oops! seems like I must have lost my faceplate somewhere!” He said, and let out a manic giggle. ‘ _Why was he laughing? What part of this was funny?’’_

Suddenly heavy footsteps could be heard coming towards the room and before long Megatron himself appeared at the entrance. The Decepticon leader looked as unflappable as usual but once his optics landed on Blitzwing something very close to annoyance shone on his faceplate. 

“Blitzwing” He said, his voice dark. “Stop your mindless rampage and return to the medical berth.”

Blitzwing looked back the way he'd come and was suddenly doused in a wave of anxiety and panic at the mere thought of being held down again. Blitzwing shook his helm, no he wasn't going to lay down there! He wasn't going to be trapped again!

“Make me!” He said childishly and stuck out an absurdly long glossa. However, almost immediately afterward he was assaulted with a familiar agony as he was suddenly looking out of a red visor. “What did you do to me?!” He shouted at the warlord. 

Megatron just looked as if this whole thing was just annoying him and a waste of his time.

“I did what I set out to do.” He said openly. “I had you made into a triple changer.” Blitzwing felt his spark skip. He was a triple changer? No, that couldn’t be right. He was a seeker, he had always been a seeker! He didn’t have two altmodes! he didn’t _want_ two altmodes! He didn’t want to be a triple changer! He didn’t want this! He wanted to go back to normal!

“Change me back!” Blitzwing screamed, suddenly not caring that Megatron was his leader as he threw a punch at his Decepticon emblem. 

Megatron caught Blitzwing's fist without any problems and he then began tightening his grip to the point that Blitzwing's plating started to buckle. Blitzwing was eventually forced down to one knee as Megatron began twisting his arm so much Blitzwing was afraid it might actually pop out of its socket.

Blitzwing looked up into Megatron's optics and found only anger and disdain reflected back at him. Blitzwing felt himself grow cold with dread as fear began spreading to every circuit of his frame.

Blitzwing's faceplate hurt terribly and soon fresh tears of pain were running down his cheeks, as he was now forced to endure both the throbbing in his faceplate and agonizing damage Megatron continued to inflict to his servo and arm. 

Blitzwing felt his logical side return to him as he was then hit with the realization that he'd just tried to attack his own leader. Blitzwing looked up at Megatron from his lowered position with pleading optics. Megatron looked so much larger from down here, and Blitzwing knew what terrible feats the Decepticon leader was capable of. If Megatron had only done this because Blitzwing hadn’t been working hard enough then what other cruelties would he inflict upon him next? 

“My lord…” He pleaded, “Please, I beg of you…Please turn me back.” He said,his voice a pitiful mixture of fear, sadness and anxiety.

Megatron stared down at him in disgust at having to witness such a pathetic display. He then raised his fist and uttered his last words to Blitzwing.

“Remember that I didn’t do this to you." Megatron snarled, "You brought this on yourself.” Then the punch came and Blitzwing's faceplate flared one last time with agony before the world went black.

* * *

“And that’s what happend.” Blitzwing said, having finished his story.

Bumblebee just stared at him in complete shock. If you so had given Bumblebee a hundred stellar cycles to guess the origin of Blitzwing's nightmares he could have never come up with something so horrible.

His spark squirmed and his processor felt as if it were in a fog as he tried to fully comprehend that this wasn't just some sort of horror story, but something that Blitzwing had actually experienced.

Bumblebee didn’t even know where to start, what were you even supposed to say after being told a story like that?

Though, Bumblebee supposed any port in a storm would do, and eventually he just started talking.

“Were there ever anymore triple changers made?” Bumblebee asked slowly. Blitzwing nodded.

“Yes, but I was the only one that survived” Blitzwing let out a deep sigh before continuing. “Most test subjects offlined soon after surgery as their frames rejected the upgrades and they were slowly destroyed from the inside out. Those that were able to survive the initial surgery all went insane, and if they couldn’t prove to be useful assets that could be controlled, they were eventually…” Blitzwing swallowed thickly, “They were Discarded. Eventually the program was decommissioned as the cost was too great and successful test subjects were few and progress were too slow. So when the project was finally shut down for good I was the only one left.” 

Bumblebee felt his mind trying to process what he'd just been told, and in a somewhat dazed tone of voice, he started speaking again.

“So you were the sole survivor?” He asked. 

“Yes.” Blitzwing nodded. “My frame was able to accept the modifications without trying to destroy itself, and later on I was able to prove that I was both sane and stable enough to be allowed to live.” Bumblebee just stared at him in astonishment. Blitzwing had been able to survive against all odds, and the fact that he'd been able retain his sanity was nothing short of a miracle, but slowly a new thought creept into Bumblebee's mind, and he scowled.

“So the risk of offlining was super high, but Megatron still forced you to be part of the program despite the risk?” Blitzwing's faceplate switched to Random and he let out a laugh.

“I guess I should be thankful that Megatron put me in the program at all and didn’t just offline me when he had the chance.” He said as he continued laughing. “He can be so generous!” 

Bumblebee stared at him in astonishment as he couldn’t believe his own audio receptors.

“You shouldn’t be thankful” Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge, prompting Bumblebee to explain further. “What he did to you is-is… it's just horrible.” Bumblebee's voice rose with every word as his rage started to snowball. “What he did to you is completely fragged! You shouldn't be thanking him for sparing your life! You should never have to thank your own leader for not offlining you when you didn't do anything wrong!” Bumblebee was absolutely furious at this point. How could someone that called themselves a leader treat the mechs in their own faction like this?! 

Blitzwing just stared at him for a moment before switching to Hothead.

“I was a useless burden! What happened to me was my own fault!” 

“No!” Bumblebee yelled. “You were just grieving!”

“Oh, as if I was the only one in the Decepticon army to lose someone important to me! Multiple people lost someone they cared about and they didn’t become dead weight! I was punished for being weak, the operation only made me stronger!” Bumblebee was actually starting to get legitimately angry at Blitzwing. Why couldn’t he see that there was no excuse for what had happened to him?! Why was he defending the same mech that had left lasting damage to both his frame and processor!? Megatron didn’t deserve that! He didn’t deserve Blitzwing covering for him!

“You were punished for having emotions! Not for being weak!” Bumblebee shouted back.

Blitzwing grit his denta as it seemed Bumblebee's response might have actually taken Blitzwing off guard. Eventually though, he just scoffed and his faceplate switched to Icy.

“It doesn't matter. It was all for the cause, every Decepticon knows that the end is more important than the means, we know the risks involved when we are sworn in. All of us knew that unpleasant tasks were set before us, and we all had to come to terms with the fact that in order for the Decepticon cause to continue, our lives might be forfeit. I should be grateful that it was I who was chosen to be part of such an important project as the triple changer program.”

“But _are_ you happy with what happened to you!? If you were actually glad that it happened, then why do the memories of it still haunt you?!” Bumblebee yelled. 

Blitzwing let out a growl.

“It doesn't matter what I think. I deserved it.” Bumblebee had to make a conscious effort not to just scream in frustration. ‘ _Why did he have to be so Primus damned stubborn!?’_

“Fine.” Bumblebee hissed. “Let’s say you deserved it. Do you know what else you deserve?” Bumblebee was quiet for a moment as if he were actually waiting for Blitzwing to think over the rhetorical question. “You deserve to have something good in your life! You deserve to have someone that gives a slag about you! You deserve to be fraggin' happy!” Bumblebee exclaimed.

Blitzwing just looked at Bumblebee in shock as the room slowly descended into an uncomfortable silence. 

Bumblebee slowly began to calm down as his angry, heaving breaths slowed into exhausted puffs of air. He regretted lashing out like that as this really wasn't the time to be getting angry at Blitzwing. If anything he needed comfort, not someone lecturing him, but that didn't mean Bumblebee regretted what he'd said. 

Bumblebee sighed and decided to change the subject. 

“So, does this mean you're claustrophobic?” Bumblebee asked. Blitzwing's extreme dislike of being trapped and or tied up certainly made more sense after learning his story, but Bumblebee had severely underestimated just how much Blitzwing hated it. Blitzwing was quiet a moment longer, and Bumblebee half expected him to just ignore the question after the argument they'd just had, but eventually his faceplate switched to Icy and he shrugged. 

“I’m not sure, I don’t have a problem with small rooms. I just don't like being tied up or being in places that look like medical bays.” Bumblebee nodded his understanding, and he remained quiet for a long time before choosing his next words. 

“I’m sorry that happened to you.” Bumblebee said earnestly, “I know you still think you deserved it, but I just want you to know that I'm sorry you had to go through all those terrible things.” Blitzwing didn’t respond as he turned his helm away.

The cell remained silent for a few minutes longer before a new mystery began to gnaw at Bumblebee. 

“Can I ask you something? And please answer truthfully.” Blitzwing let out a scoff before his faceplate switched to Random.

“You really expect someone with deception in their factions' name to be truthful?” Bumblebee could tell that he was joking but just continued to look at him in silence, not wanting him to laugh this off. Blitzwing finally returned to Icy and sighed. “Fine.” 

“Did you know you wouldn’t be able to make it out of the base if you came back for me?” Blitzwing seemed a bit taken aback at the question, but he did eventually respond. 

“I wasn't 100% sure I wouldn’t make it, but I knew it was very likely I'd be left behind.” 

“So you came back for me even though you knew you might not make it out?" Bumblebee asked, just to make sure he'd understand Blitziwings answer correctly.

“Yes.” Blitzwing answered. 

Bumblebee swallowed hard, he was a little reluctant to ask his next question as he wasn’t sure if he really wanted it answered, but he'd already come this far, so he might as well go all the way.

“If you knew that this would happen to you if you stayed behind, you know with being tied up even worse than before… Would you have still chosen my freedom over your own?” Bumblebee felt guilty every time he looked over at Blitzwing; because as far as he was concerned, it had been his own fault that Blitzwing hadn’t been able to escape. If Bumblebee hadn’t been hurt, or if he'd only been able to convince Blitzwing go on without him he never would have been forced to relive his worst memories.

“Yes.” Was Blitzwing’s immediate answer, which honestly shocked Bumblebee.

“Would you have still saved me even if-” 

“Yes” Blitzwing cut him off. Bumblebee frowned.

“You didn’t let me finish!” Bumblebee yelled, sounding annoyed, but Blitzwing's faceplate switched to Hothead before Bumblebee could continue.

“I would have still chosen to let you escape! I would have let you go free even if I knew doing so would be signing my own death warrant! I will always choose your freedom over mine!” As Blitzwing finished yelling, Bumblebee could feel some of the immense regret he still felt began to lift, as a pleasant warmth began to radiate from his spark.

“Why?” Bumblebee asked, somewhat dazed. Blitzwing was silent and it appeared as if he were trying to figure that out for himself, his faceplate eventually spinning back to Icy.

“I had promised you that everything was going to be alright. I'm only sorry I couldn't keep that promise.” Bumblebee could tell there was more to it that he wasn't saying, but he felt as if now might not be the best time to go fishing for answers. 

Instead, Bumblebee took a moment to focus on the way his spark raced wildly in its chamber and the thousands of butterflies that seemed to have made a home in his fuel tank. Just simply taking the time to revel in the immense love he felt for Blitzwing.

“It’s okay, we’ll just have to do better next time." Bumblebee said, thrilled at being able to turn Blitzwing's own words back on him.

The room stayed silent after that, as they both seemed to get lost in their own worlds. 

“Would you like to know something that scares me?” Bumblebee asked softly. Blitzwing turned to look at Bumblebee, seemingly having been drawn out of his own thoughts.

Bumblebee wasn’t sure why he even asked, maybe he just felt a bit weird knowing such a personal thing about Blitzwing when Bumblebee hadn’t shared any similar information himself. Or maybe he wanted to let Blitzwing in on some kind of collateral, just to really hammer the point home that he wasn’t planning on telling anyone about Blitzwing's past.

He ended up talking before Blitzwing even had time to respond. “I'm afraid of being left alone, and that no one will care about me.” Bumblebee smiled sadly at Blitzwing. “You being stuck here with me is probably one of the few things that's kept me sane.” He let out a half hearted chuckle. “I know it’s stupid, but I was actually kind of worried my team wasn't looking for me.”

Blitzwing looked at him for a while, before he slowly spoke.

“Why would you doubt that your team was looking for you?” He asked, clearly a bit confused by the concept. “You always speak so highly of them and how much you all care about each other.” Bumblebee was quiet as he questioned if he should even reveal this much about himself. However, what he had to say was much milder than what Blitzwing had shared with him, so he might as well answer his questions. 

“Okay, so it's no where near as bad as your experience, but I'd still prefer that you didn’t tell anyone about this.” Blitzwing nodded his understanding before his faceplate was replaced by Random.

“Ohhh! we’re going to be secret buddies!” He said in an overly cheerful tone. “Cross my spark! You have my word, I won’t tell anyone!” Bumblebee couldn't help but to let out a snort at Blitzwing's enthusiasm before continuing. 

“Okay, so when I was in boot camp I messed up and ended up pissing a bunch of people off.” Blitzwing faceplate switched to Icy.

“I can’t possibly see how that could have happened.” He said in a perfect deadpan. Bumblebee scowled.

“Oh shut it you!” He hissed, but he had trouble hiding his grin. 

Bumblebee cleared his throat and continued. “Anyway, one time when I was alone, these two other mechs removed my legs, shoved me in a locker and just left me there.” Blitzwing's optic widened slightly in surprise and shock, but Bumblebee pressed on and didn't give Blitzwing the chance to butt in as he continued telling his story. 

“Now, when I think back about it I should have realized that someone would eventually come find me. But back then, while trapped and left screaming as I waited for someone to come and help I was terrified! I just kept thinking: What if no one cares that I've gone missing and I'm just stuck in here forever? What if I end up being left alone in this stupid locker until I offline from starvation? And I guess that fear of being left all alone just kind of always stayed with me or something...” The atmosphere in the cell became silent and uncomfortable to the point that Bumblebee couldn't stand it. He let out a nervous chuckle. “But it's such a stupid thing to be afraid of! I know my team! And I know they wouldn’t just leave me behind like that!” Blitzwing just continued staring at him for a while before finally speaking up.

“Two Autobots did that to you?” His faceplate switched to Random. “And I thought you Autobots were supposed to be the ‘good guys’ !” He said, making obvious finger quotes as he laughed, but Bumblebee could see how Blitzwing's optics had narrowed, hinting at the presence of rage hidden under his happy facade. Bumblebee let out a chuckle of his own.

“Yeah, those guys were total afts!” Bumblebee said between chuckles. 

“If you want to tell me their names, I’ll offline them the next time I see them. Make some con justice, you know?” He said, with an ever widening grin. Blitzwing seemed to be half serious and half joking with his threat but something told Bumblebee that he actually indicated he wanted those two killed, and that he would go out of his way to make it happen.

“No, really it’s okay!” Blitzwing frowned.

“Aww come on! Don’t be such a killjoy! How do you want them offlined? Spark ripped out, frozen solid, burnt to a crisp?” 

“You are not offlining anyone!” Bumblebee shouted, in what he hoped was a stern tone, but his smile somewhat ruined it.

“Come on! I won’t tell anyone you sic me on them, unless you want me to! I could be like: ‘Bumblebee sends his regards’ before I give them a one way ticket to the allspark!” Bumblebee started laughing.

“No, no it’s fine!” Blitzwing shrugged.

“It's your loss… but the offer stays on the table if you ever change your mind!” He said cheekily. A moment later Blitzwing faceplate switched back to Icy. “You were really afraid that your team might leave you behind?” He asked, his voice serious again. Bumblebee shrugged.

“A little, but I was also worried about a lot of other things that were much worse than that.” Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge.

“Like what?” 

“A whole bunch of stuff! Like being stuck here forever and never seeing my friends again, being murdered while fighting in the arena, starving to death...” Blitzwing seemed to examine him before responding.

“You are a terrible liar.” Bumblebee scowled and was about to ask what that had to do with anything, but Blitzwing continued before he had the chance. “But I never noticed you worrying about things like that.You always just seemed so… Happy. You always smiled when we spoke and you never seemed fazed by our hopeless situation.” 

Bumblebee chuckled.

“Yeah, I talk a lot, especially when I am scared. Ratchet always said my mouth would get me in trouble one of these days and that I should try to be more quiet.” Blitzwing scowled at that last part. 

“Well, I happen to like when you talk.” Blitzwing sounded so sure of his statement, that Bumblebee couldn't help but gawk as the other mech In astonishment.

“You do?” Blitzwing nodded.

“Yes, I like listening to you talk, you're always so enthusiastic, so passionate about things, so full of energy.” a soft smile slowly crept up his lips. “I like listening to your voice."

Bumblebee felt his cheeks turning pink. People who met Bumblebee often complained about how much he ran his mouth, and their responses to him could range from mild irritation to outright avoidance. So, finding people who not only tolerated, but actually _liked_ it when Bumblebee talked were fairly rare.

He gave Blitzwing a winning smile before quickly faking a look of mild surprise.

“What is this? Have I finally found a bot that knows perfection when they see it?!” He exclaimed with a laugh. Blitzwing didn’t seem outwardly amused, but Bumblebee still saw how his optics seemed to pinch slightly with happiness. 

Neither of them said much after that, and the cell became silent once more. 

Bumblebee finally started feeling his prior exhaustion catching up to him, today had been an emotional rollercoaster from start to finish and he wanted nothing more than to just lay down and enter recharge, but he glanced back at Blitzwing.

He looked calmer than he'd been when Bumblebee arrived. His venting was less shallow and his trembling wasn't nearly as noticeable, but there were still very clear signs that he was stressed out. Bumblebee sighed.

“You should try to recharge.” He said, his voice fading a bit from how tired he was. Blitzwing looked away, his attention seemingly caught by a random part of the ceiling, but Bumblebee could still see how he nervously bit his lip and clinched his servos into tight fists at the suggestion. 

Bumblebee wanted so badly to be able to comfort him, give him a hug or even just lay next to him as they both recharged, but those options weren't feasible with how they'd been restrained, so Bumblebee would just have to work with what he had.

He tried to slide down as much as the cuffs would allow before he started trying to stretch his legs out as far as they could go. To both his surprise and immense joy, he was just tall enough that his left ped could just barely touch Blitzwing's overarm. 

Blitzwings venting stopped and his frame completely froze and his optics snapped to the foreign touch. But, as soon as his overworked processor registered that it was only Bumblebee his whole frame seemed to sag as he let out a heavy sigh of relief. His gaze then traveled back to Bumblebee's faceplate and their optics met.

Bumblebee returned his questioning gaze with a soft smile.

“Hey, it's okay,” He said, his voice gentle. “Everything will be fine. “ He was quiet for a moment. “I’m right here now, so just recharge.” Bumblebee knew that he had no way of guaranteeing that everything would in fact be alright and he was pretty sure Blitzwing knew that as well.

But despite his empty promises Blitzwing lips formed a small smile and he leaned his helm so it was on its side and dragged in a somewhat shaky breath of air before letting it out with a quiet, “Thank you.”

Soon his venting started to slow and his frame finally lost its tension as he relaxed completely. 

Bumblebee waited a few minutes just to be sure, but to his amazement Blitzwing's faceplate didn't start it’s normal rapid fire switching, as it only seemed to switch over every couple of minutes. 

Bumblebee felt his frame grow warm despite the cold outside temperature of the prison cell and he smiled at the dozing triple changer before he felt himself slowly slipping into unconsciousness.


	17. Chapter 17

Bumblebee and Blitzwing were awakened by the all too familiar shaking of their prison cell. As they both began trying to shake the last vestiges of sleep from their processors the echoing of several clicks announced the unlocking of their restraints.

Bumblebee stood up and rubbed gingerly at his wrists. In the meantime, Blitzwing was making the most of his newly found mobility by immediately getting to his peds and stretching his stiff joints. Bumblebee watched him silently, not wanting to interrupt, as he continued to enjoy his ability to move freely. 

Blitzwing was looking much better today. He didn't seem nearly as exhausted, and now that he wasn't tied down, none of his previously anxious behavior, such as hyperventilating and trembling, were present.

When Blitzwing finally dropped his arms from where he'd been attempting to rotate his shoulders, Bumblebee walked next to him and gently placed a servo on Blitzwing thigh. Blitzwing stiffened briefly at the unexpected contact, but he relaxed immediately once he saw it was only Bumblebee.

“Are you doing okay?” Bumblebee asked, his voice soft as he gazed up at the other mech in concern. Blitzwing gave a small nod.

“I’m fine.” Blitzwing said and flashed one of those special smiles that had Bumblebee's knees going weak. “I didn’t have any nightmares” Bumblebee felt his mouth curving into a bright grin.

"Really?!" He asked excitedly. "Not even ones that are just bits and pieces of that-that-" Bumblebee wasn't sure how to word it exactly, and he didn't want to make Blitzwing feel uncomfortable. Blitzwing noticed Bumblebee's hesitation and shook his helm. 

"No, not even the ones that even slightly remind me of  _ that _ memory." Bumblebee felt so happy to hear that he couldn't help but bounce up and down on the spot.

“I told you talking about it would help!” Bumblebee said, clearly pleased with himself. Blitzwing didn’t have time to respond; because just then, the door finished opening with a resounding click. Their brief moment of peace having been shattered, they both shared a look of: 'here we go again' before they both begrudgingly walked out into the arena.

Master Disaster was already there and was looking down at them from his balcony. He was smiling but it was clearly forced as he simply appeared to be waiting for them to take center stage. 

Bumblebee and Blitzwing trudged forward until they were left standing in the middle of the arena. They both quickly turned their gazes to the large door Master Disaster's attack robots usually came out of, but instead, the man in question chose that moment to speak up.

“Believe it or not I am slow to anger.” He started, causing both Bumblebee and Blitzwing to turn their attention back to him. “But the two of you have pushed me far past my breaking point.” His voice was deep with frustration, but he seemed to still be trying to keep up his showy facade. He took in another deep breath before continuing. “So I've decided.” He said, an unnerving smirk appearing on his lips. “I’ll let one of you go.” Blitzwing and Bumblebee both stared at him in disbelief. 

_ ‘He'd really allow one of them to leave? Just like that?’ _

"One of us gets to go home?" Bumblebee asked, still reeling at the suddenness of the information. "No strings attached?" Master Disaster nodded.

"That's right! One of you will get the chance to leave and you'll never have to hear or see me again!"

Bumblebee saw Blitzwing shaking off his momentary surprise as his optics began narrowing in suspicion.

“What’s the catch?” He asked, still clearly distrustful of both Master Disaster and his offer. 

Bumblebee could definitely see what Blitzwing was getting at. This all sounded way too good to be true, and it also didn’t make a lot sense. Why would Master Disaster just suddenly decide to let one of them go? And if he really was, why had he even bothered recapturing Bumblebee? If either of them left, what was stopping them from returning with either the police or the other Decepticons and completely leveling this place? Something wasn't right about this. 

Master Disaster's smile only seemed to grow more sinister at Blitzwing’s question. 

“No catch! You'll just have to do one little thing.” He said in a tone that was clearly trying to minimize the seriousness of whatever he was about to ask of them.

“What thing?” Blitzwings asked, crossing his arms over his chest in defiance.

“Oh, nothing much, in order to leave all you just have to do is... Kill your roommate.” He declared as he threw his arms out dramatically.

Bumblebee felt his spark sinking as he tried to process what he'd just heard.

‘Kill your roommate' seemed to just keep echoing inside Bumblebee's helm as he nervously glanced up at Blitzwing, only to see that the other mech seemed just as dumbfounded as he was.

Bumblebee snapped his helm back towards Master Disaster.

“Are you joking?!” He shouted, unable to believe that the man could truly be so cruel, but before Master Disaster had a chance to respond, Blitzwing cut him off with a question of his own.

“And if we refuse your offer? What happens then?” Master Disaster frowned at his question and pulled the controller out of his belt without activating it.

“Then I’ll simply  _ force _ one of you to fight, and the one that wins will be left to rot in that cell for all of eternity!” 

Bumblebee felt as if he'd been frozen to the ground as he was forced to process his two choices. 

Fight and offline the other, or refuse and be forced to offline them anyway. Just with the added bonus of being stuck in that cramped cell forever. There were no good choices here, only bad and worse ones.

Bumblebee glanced back at Blitzwing. He was currently looking rather blank as he looked forward without meeting Bumblebees optics, but Bumblebee could see that there were a million things going on inside his helm.

Bumblebee swallowed thickly.

If he ever wanted to have another movie night with Sari, see his teammates again or even just drive freely around Detroit, he'd have to murder Blitzwing. The cold reality of that revelation was haunting.

He just kept looking at Blitzwing as he tried to commit his features to memory. His piercing crimson optics, his sharp blue cheeks and his powerful frame. He started reminiscing about the time they'd spent together. The deeply personal things he'd been told yesterday, Blitzwing begrudgingly giving him advice on how to stand on his servos, how they'd been recharging next to each other to escape the cold. Blitzwing had been the one to offer comfort when he'd felt so terribly hopeless, and he'd even been willing to sacrifice himself so that Bumblebee might have a chance to escape.

Bumblebee remembered it all so vividly. Every interaction, every laugh, every stolen smile they'd shared. How Blitzwing was able to make his spark race without even trying, and now he was supposed to just forget all of that? How could he be expected to just put all of that behind him and kill the mech he was in love with? How could he kill Blitzwing? 

Bumblebee's spark squirmed uncomfortably, and his optics turned glossy with unshed tears.

If he ever wanted to see his friends again, his only choice was to offline Blitzwing. 

Bumblebee attempted to activate his stingers, only to realise it was impossible. Not because there was anything physically holding him back, but because he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He couldn’t stand the thought of offlining Blitzwing. He felt physically sick just thinking about it, and his spark felt as if it was tearing itself apart.

Bumblebee realised then that he couldn’t go through with it. There was no way he could bring himself to hurt Blitzwing, he'd come to care too deeply for the triple changer during their brief time together. However, that still left him with only two options, either get taken offline by Blitzwing's own servos, either by his own will or by force, or have Master Disaster take control and force Bumblebee to offline Blitzwing.

What was he supposed to do? Should he encourage Blitzwing to offline him by telling him that he himself refused to fight? Or should he just attack Blitzwing straight on so that he could be offlined without regret? Blitzwing had been through so much already. He didn't need the added guilt of Bumblebee's murder on his consciousness as well.

Bumblebee didn't get a lot of time to think it over because suddenly Blitzwing was lunging towards him, grabbing him by the shoulders and forcing him down to the ground. 

Loose sand was kicked up as Bumblebee was suddenly slammed into the floor, momentarily knocking the air out of his vents.

He looked up at Blitzwing in shock as the other mech towered over him.

Blitzwing held both of Bumblebee's wrists in one servo, tight enough to restrict his movement but not quite tight enough to hurt. He was also straddling Bumblebee's chest, giving him no option to kick him at him with his legs or knees like he'd done when they'd both first been thrown into the arena and Blitzwing had attacked him.

Bumblebee looked up into Blitzwing's determined optics as they zeroed in on him. He should have been scared, but honestly all he felt was numb.

He wasn’t frightened, as he realised this was probably the best outcome either of them could ask for. Bumblebee couldn’t bring himself to offline Blitzwing, that much was clear, but if Blitzwing managed to offlined Bumblebee he'd be free to leave this place. Neither of them would have to fight under Master Disaster anymore and Blitzwing wouldn’t have to be confined any longer. 

So, Bumblebee wasn’t scared as he looked at the mech that would end his life. Just knowing that with his sacrifice, Blitzwing the mech he'd come to love more than anything, would be able to go on to regain his freedom and live a full life had him feeling surprisingly ok. 

_ ‘This isn't a great situation...But at least Blitzwing will be able to go free, and he won’t have to spend another night forcibly confined.’  _ Bumblebee thought, as he resigned himself to his fate.

Blitzwing suddenly leaned forward until his lips right against Bumblebee's audio receptors and whispered:

“Do you still have your stingers?” Bumblebee's optics widened in surprise. He didn’t know what he had been expecting, but it certainly wasn’t that.

“W-what?” Bumblebee whispered back, following Blitzwing's lead and making sure to speak quietly enough that Master Disaster couldn't overhear. 

“Do your stingers still work?” Blitzwing whispered again, more urgently this time. 

“Yeah, they still work but why do you ask?” Bumblebee whispered, still not entirely sure where this conversation was going. He heard a whirl and a moment later Random's higher pitched voice reached his audios.

“Do you think one of your bolts could reach the balcony?” He said, his voice gleeful.

It took Bumblebee's processor a second to catch on to what Blitzwing was suggesting before it suddenly all clicked into place, and he smiled deviously.

“I'll need to be a lot higher up...Mind giving me a boost?” Bumblebee asked, as he heard a barely stifled laugh crawl up Blitzwing's intake.

“It'd be my pleasure!" He answered, "Are you ready?” Bumblebee nodded.

“I was forged ready!” 

At Bumblebee's affirmative, Blitzwing immediately let go of his wrists and quickly stood up. He then grabbed Bumblebee around the waist and lifted him up before effortlessly tossing Bumblebee straight up into the air.

Bumblebee felt  the  air  rushing past him as he flew higher and higher, but he couldn’t focus on that  as  he had more  pressing things to  worry about. 

On the way up he pulled out his stingers and was able to manipulate his frame, so that he was facing the balcony. What he saw waiting for him on top was nothing short of amazing. 

Master Disaster was looking back at him in stunned disbelief as he failed to comprehend what was about to happen. 

Bumblebee felt his lips curving into an excited grin as he pointed his stingers at him and their gazes locked. Bumblebee saw the slow dawning of realization appear on the man's face, but by that time it was already too late. 

Bumblebee shot two bolts off. One hit the control panel right next to where Master Disaster was standing, but the other struck home as it hit the controller he was still holding.

Master Disaster let out a yelp of pain as electricity surged through the controller and down his arm, and then the most amazing thing happened. He actually let go. 

Time seemed to slow down as Bumblebee watched Master Disaster fumble awkwardly for his dropped control, but he was only able to look on in horror as it narrowly slipped through his fingers. The controller bounced once on the balcony's floor before it flew over the edge and finally coming to a stop at the bottom of the arena. Far beyond Master Disaster's reach.

Bumblebee felt a feeling of euphoria engulf him at finally getting one over on Master Disaster, but he quickly realized he had a more pressing concern as he started plummeting back towards the ground. 

He seemed to only pick up speed as he fell backwards, and he worried he was about to be turned into a pile of scrap metal scattered all over the arenas floor.

“Blitzwing!” He screamed frantically as every second brought him closer to the ground. He couldn't see the big mech from his current position so he could only pray that Blitzwing was still close enough to help. “Catch me! Catch me! Catch-!” He started chanting hysterically, but he didn't need to yell for long as he suddenly felt himself being encompassed by strong arms. One curled around his back and the other went under his knees and he felt himself being pulled close to someone's chest plate. Bumblebee looked up and was met with large red optics and a jagged grin.

“Caught you!” Blitzwing shouted gleefully, laughing the entire way down. Bumblebee couldn’t help meeting him with a wide smile of his own, his spark pulsing in his audios.

Blitzwing landed still holding Bumblebee in a gentle bridal carry, his arms supporting the mini bot as if he weighed no more than air. Even after they'd already landed safely he still continued to hold Bumblebee in his arms, both of them sharing a triumphant grin as they reveled in the fact that they'd actually managed to outsmart Master Disaster.

However, their brief moment of success was quickly interrupted as they heard the unmistakable sound of a door swinging open. Both of them immediately looked up and saw that Master Disaster had already made his escape and had left the balcony door wide open. 

Blitzwing's faceplate violently switched to Hothead.

“Get back here you sniveling coward!” He roared after him.

Bumblebee gently patted Blitzwing's chest plate, causing Blitzwing to turn his attention back to him.

“Don't worry about it big guy. He's virtually harmless without his controller.” Blitzwing still looked frustrated at being unable to deal out his own version of justice, but after hearing Bumblebee’s words it looked like he, at least for the moment, chose to forget about Master Disaster.

Though, Bumblebee soon became aware of another predicament. 

“Hey um, can you put me down now?” Bumblebee asked. He actually didn't mind being carried around by Blitzwing. The triple changer was warm to the touch and it was pretty couzy and the new height was a welcomed change, but he didn’t want this to become awkward by forcing Blitzwing to continue carrying him. He also didn’t want to give Blitzwing any hints as to how he actually felt, Primus knew Blitzwing would never let him live it down.

Blitzwing just nodded and gently set Bumblebee back on the ground, and Bumblebee could have been imagining it, but he thought Blitzwing almost seemed disappointed at having to let him go. 

Bumblebee's peds protested as having to support his weight, but Bumblebee paid it no mind as he started to make his way over to the balcony's overhang.

It didn’t take long for his optics to spot the controller laying inert in the sand. He slowly limped over to it and picked it up with a single servo.

To think that something so small could have caused them so much pain and distress was kind of morbidly funny. Still, the thought of all the awful things it had forced them to do had Bumblebee simply wishing to crush it in his servos and get this whole thing over with.

He started his inspection of the device by fiddling with the compartment usually reserved for batteries. Just as he pried off the small piece of plastic, he could see a blue glow illuminating the empty compartment, and he realised he was looking at the embedded allspark fragment.

He pinched the blue crystal between two digits and carefully pulled it out before throwing the rest of the controller onto the ground as without the allspark's power it was little more than a plastic piece of scrap.

He saw Blitzwing making his way over and Bumblebee just watched as he spitefully stomped down on what was left of the controller, until he was satisfied that the left over pieces had been were so small they could never even hope to be scavenged and remade into a new controller.

Bumblebee turned towards Blitzwing  while still holding the fragment,  before he suddenly realised something.

Who was going to get the fragment? Both of them had been caught up in this mess because they'd been sent out to search for it, and now they finally had it… Who would be allowed to bring it back to their faction? 

Bumblebee was about to say something about it but Blitzwing, having cycled back to icy, suddenly cut him off.

“Do you think you could remove the cuffs on my wings with your stingers?” He asked. Bumblebee snapped out of his own musings and turned to face Blitzwing, having been slightly caught off guard by the request.

Blitzwing twisted his frame so that Bumblebee could see what he was talking about, and sure enough, Bumblebee could see the tight pieces of metal that had been secured around his wings. 

“Oh, yeah sure!" Bumblebee said, momentarily putting down the fragment and pulling out his stingers.

Blitzwing turned around completely and sat down so that Bumblebee could more easily reach Bumblebee first warmed up his stingers until they were crackling with hot electricity and then, almost like using a pyrography pen, he began to burn through the metal bindings.

As he continued working on freeing Blitzwing, he couldn't help but notice how the other mech seemed to be completely at ease. Blitzwing didn’t even glance over his shoulder once, apparently fully trusting Bumblebee to use his stingers close to his wings without a single concern. The amount of trust Blitzwing was willing to place in him had Bumblebee's spark swelling with warmth.

“All done!” Bumblebee finally called out, the metal having been fully removed from the others frame. Blitzwing took the que to stand back up and he immediately started flexing his newly freed wings. Blitzwing let them flutter and shift for a moment. When he finally turned around, it was with a soft smile directed at Bumblebee.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome!” Bumblebee said with a grin of his own before bending down to pick up the allspark fragment. “We should probably get a move on” He continued "I don't want to stick around here any longer than necessary." Blitzwing nodded in agreement, before he seemed to remember something.

“I need to do one last thing before we go, but I'll need your help with it.” Bumblebee looked over at him, before giving a carefree shrug.

“Sure, what do you need?” Blitzwing's faceplate switched to Random as he  excitedly ran up to the door the attack robots usually came out of.

“I had time to explore after you left the base!” He said, using both servos to forcefully pry the door open. The metal made a horrendous screech as it was bent out of place before finally giving way with one last burst of noise. “This way!” Blitzwing called out as he ran through the door. 

Bumblebee quickly followed as fast as his much smaller stride would allow.

What he found inside was a room full of broken robot parts, there were so many that the floor was almost completely buried underneath it and Bumblebee was forced to walk haphazardly on top in order to advance. 

Bumblebee soon realised that all the robot parts they were walking through must have been the ones they were meant to fight and were stored here. It would seem that during Blitzwing's rampage through the base he'd taken the chance to reduce all of the remaining robots to scrap metal.

The hallway seemed to stretch on for a long time, but eventually they came to another large door that seemed to have already been forced open. Master Disaster must not have had time to replace it, and Bumblebee guessed that was the direction Blitzwing had originally come from after being locked in.

Bumblebee continued following Blitzwing until they came to a hallway that he realized he recognized.

In front of him was another broken door and to his left was an doorway that, to absolutely no one's surprise, also was broken. Bumblebee could clearly see what looked to be a kitchen peeking out from behind the other doorway.

Blitzwing continued walking to the entrance in front of him, before he turned back to Bumblebee and pointed at it, his faceplate having switched back to Icy.

“This is a storage room.” He explained as he crouched down to peer inside, his zoom lens telescoping in on something. Bumblebee just looked at him in confusion. 

“Okay…? So, why are you showing me this?” Blitzwing turned and looked at him.

“My cannons are inside." Blitzwing said, "I found them after you left, but I'm too big to be able to go inside and retrieve them myself.”

“Oh!” Bumblebee said, finally understanding why Blitzwing needed his help, as he made his way over. The door Blitzwing had pointed at was clearly made for humans only, so there was no possible way Blitzwing would be able to fit, but Bumblebee could.

The room was dark and filled with the normal items of a storage closet. Like liquid cleaning agents, brooms, mops, and there were a lot of spare robot parts.

Bumblebee let his optics briefly scan over the mess before noticing some familiar looking weapons at the very back of the room. 

With nowhere else to put the allspark fragment, he ended up having to hold it in his denta, and Primus, did he miss being able to use his subspace. He picked up a cannon with each servo and began dragging them back towards the exit.

Bumblebee really hadn't expected just how heavy these things were, they always seemed so light when Blitzwing was running around with them anchored to his shoulders! 

He saw Blitzwing's Random faceplate watching as Bumblebee struggled to drag his weapons.

“Aww, are my cannons too heavy for your itsy bitsy little arms?” He quipped with a laugh. Bumblebee scowled at him, and made a response, but with the allspark fragment in the way it all came out as just muffled nonsense, which only succeeded with making Blitzwing laugh harder.

Bumblebee thankfully didn't need to carry the cannons far, because as soon as they were within grabbing distance Blitzwing reached in and pulled them out for himself.

He took them one at the time and began reattaching them to his shoulders. When he was done he stood up and tested their range of movement by raising and lowering them, before allowing them to warm without the intention of firing. Finally satisfied that they were still in working order he let his canons resume their standby position.

Bumblebee walked out of the storage room a moment later and spat out the fragment he'd been holding in his mouth into his servo. 

Blitzwing looked down at him, his jagged grin growing even wider.

“Finally! I was starting to feel so exposed without them!” He said and let out another cackle. Bumblebee just rolled his optics.

“Is this all you needed?” He asked. Blitzwing's faceplate switched back to Icy he nodded.

“Yes, I couldn't leave without first retrieving my weapons.” Bumblebee nodded.

“Alright then! Let's go!” He shouted excitedly, he then made to run to the exit, but with his damaged ped, he had to settle for a limping power walk. Blitzwing watched him for a moment before speaking up.

“I could always carry you if your injury is too painful. I wouldn't mind.” Bumblebee stopped long enough to consider his offer, but eventually he shook his helm.

“I’m fine, it looks a lot worse than it is.” Bumblebee said, with a grin. Blitzwing didn’t seem to be completely convinced of that, but he chose not to argue the point. Instead, he reached down and held out a servo. Bumblebee stared at the offering in confusion before looking up at Blitzwing with the same befuddled look. Blitzwing sighed, and started to elaborate. 

“I'll help support you.” and with that, it finally clicked as Bumblebee looked back towards the awaiting servo.

Bumblebee slowly linked their digits together, and Blitzwing immediately used his added strength to take some of the strain off his hurt ped. 

Bumblebee could already feel Blitzwing's almost unnatural warmth slowly leeching into his plating as they continued down the hallway towards the exit, and he could tell that Blitzwing seemed to be making a conscious effort to match Bumblebee's much slower pace.

When they eventually made it to the exit door, they both soon realized that the entrance had been secured. Which honestly wasn't that much of a surprise.

Bumblebee heard a sudden whirl, and without saying a word, Blitzwing lowered his cannon. Hot fire spewed out and started to melt the door. Bumblebee just stared in astonishment as he watched the solid metal actually melting from Blitzwing's powerful cannon fire.

As soon as the hole was big enough for them both to pass through, Blitzwing stopped his fiery assault. However, before either of them had the chance to make another step, they heard the telltale sound of a vehicle starting up, and Bumblebee had a pretty good guess about who was behind the wheel. Bumblebee then realized they'd have to act fast.

He suddenly let go of Blitzwing's servo and despite the pain he started running as quickly as he could through the exit.

It was pitch black outside, but thankfully the stars and moon still produced enough light to grant minimal visibility. When he finally walked onto the gravel road, he could see Master Disaster already in his truck and getting ready to drive away.

Bumblebee immediately activated one of his stingers and shot several bolts towards the truck's wheels, flattening the tires.

He heard a few curses escape the driver's seat, and he could see a severely pissed off Master Disaster glared back at him from the side mirror. Bumblebee smirked and raised his stinger.

“Come out with your hands where I can see them!” He shouted, his tone unbearably smug as he didn't even try to hide how much he was enjoying this.

For a few seconds nothing happened, but eventually an extremely irritated Master Disaster opened the driver side door and jumped out, his boots making a soft crunch as they made contact with the gravel road. He was holding his hands up and was glaring hatefully at Bumblebee. 

Blitzwing, having finally caught up, moved to stand leisurely beside the minibot, but as soon as he caught sight of the human a deep scowl carved itself into his faceplate and his servos curled into tight fists.

With an ominous silence, he lowered both cannons and prepared to fire. Bumblebee, having realised what he was about to do, immediately stepped in.

“You can’t kill him.” He said sternly. Blitzwing looked down at him, frustration written across his red faceplate.

“Why can't I?! This worthless human had fun playing with our lives!” He then turned back towards Master Disaster, who seemed to only grow more nervous the longer Blitzwing's angry expression was trained on him. “What's stopping me from repaying the favour?” 

As much as he hated to admit it, Bumblebee could completely understand Blitzwing's point. Master Disaster was as far away from a 'good person' as was physically possible, and some of the awful things he'd done to them both could be considered downright evil. Still, that didn't mean he deserved death, and Bumblebee wasn't about to go against his own morals just to get revenge. The Autobots were better than that,  _ he _ was better than that, and now that Master Disaster was without his controller he posed no threat to them. If they attacked him now, it wouldn't be seen as self defence.

“We don’t kill humans!” Bumblebee yelled, crossing his arms defiantly over his chest.

“ _ You  _ don’t kill humans.” Blitzwing corrected, “I am not restricted by such a rule, and I refuse to abide by the idiotic idea of protecting these worthless organics. That is an Autobot mentality.” Bumblebee scowled at him.

“Well  _ I'm _ an Autobot, and I say killing humans is out of the question!” Bumblebee retorted. He hoped he could convince Blitzwing to let Master Disaster live, but he also realized that if Blitzwing really was dead set on killing the man, Bumblebee wouldn't be able to stop him.

Blitzwing glowered at Master Disaster for a few more seconds, and it seemed as if he was arguing with himself. He then glanced down at Bumblebee who was still looking at him sternly. Blitzwing seemed to think it over a moment longer, before he let out a deep sigh and let his cannons fall back.

It seemed he'd decided to follow Bumblebee's request of not killing the man after all, but it was clear he was extremely unhappy with it.

That having been taken care of Bumblebee's returned his focus to the cornered Master Disaster. He retracted his stinger for the moment and began walking towards him, more than ready to finally arrest the man and get this whole thing over with. He didn't have a solid plan for what to do with the man once he arrested him, as he still couldn't drive and he had no way to contact the local authorities. He guessed he could ask Blitzwing to fly him to the closest police station and drop him off. Though, something told Bumblebee that Blitzwing wouldn't take too kindly to that suggestion. 

But Bumblebee didn't have long to ponder about the what ifs; because as soon as he made to step closer Master Disaster let out an audio piercing whistle. A split second later, the back doors of the truck were blown wide open, and the robot that had guarded Bumblebee during his return trip to the base burst out. 

As soon as the robot presented itself as a new threat, Blitzwing stepped in front of Bumblebee. Now in the direct line of fire, Blitzwing lowered his cannons menacingly, the unrealised fire burning white hot inside the barrels. The robot having perceived Blitzwing the bigger threat, moved to target him with its gun. 

Bumblebee activated his stinger was about to walk around Blitzwing, but before Bumblebee could step out from behind the larger mech Blitzwing held out a servo, signalling to him to stand down.

“Focus on the human,” He whispered sternly, "I'll handle the robot."

Bumblebee looked up at him dubiously, conflicted about leaving Blitzwing without backup, but finally he gave a short nod of assent and turned his focus back to Master Disaster.

“Your show's been canceled Master Disaster! You've already lost, so make it easy on yourself and just give up!” Master Disaster scoffed.

“I know I've already lost!" Master Disaster snarled, his tone poisonous. "The moment you stepped outside my base I knew I was running on borrowed time!” Bumblebee gave him a look of confusion. That had not been the response he'd been expecting.

“What are you talking about?” Master Disaster let out another annoyed huff.

“Let me answer that with a question of my own,” Master Disaster drawled. “How do you think I was able to find you by the roadside?” When Bumblebee showed no signs of comprehension Master Disaster continued. “Do you think I was just driving around looking for you and just happened to stumble upon you? Is that really what you thought?" Bumblebee felt slightly ashamed to admit it, but that's exactly what he'd thought; after all, what other explanation was there? 

Master Disaster, seeing that he'd hit the nail on the head, rolled his eyes dramatically. "You're even more an idiot than I thought. ” Blitzwing let out a low warning growl at the insult, but didn’t drop his focus from the robot.

“Stop being dramatic and get to the point already!” Blitzwing shouted impatiently. Master Disaster scowled at being interrupted before letting out a frustrated sigh and turning back to Bumblebee as he continued to elaborate. 

“Your energy signature, or whatever you call it, is still online. The moment you stepped out of the base anyone with a working locator could have found you. Both your team and I could see where you were at all times. Thankfully, you ended up just running around the forest for the most part, so I had plenty of time to deal with the big oaf-" Master Disaster nodded towards Blitzwing "And since I was preoccupied dealing with all the damage he caused, I chose not to go after you immediately.” Bumblebee's optics widened in shock at the information Master Disaster had just shared. 

“But-but you told me it was turned off!” Bumblebee countered angrily as he pointed an accusing digit towards the man "You totally said that my life signature was off! I remember you saying that!" Master Disaster made a disinterested 'tsk tsk.'

“That's not what I said. I told you that “as long as you stayed here, you might as well have disappeared from the face of the earth.” I never said I turned your signal off.” Bumblebee frustratedly grit his denta,  _ ‘Primus fragging loopholes! What even is this? Genie rules?!’  _

Bumblebee shook his helm.He needed to focus!

“It doesn't matter! Tell your robot to back off, and come along quietly!” Master Disaster scowled.

“Why would I do that? At the moment we're at a stand still, and for every second I delay you, that's one second less I spend in prison.” Master Disaster said matter-a-factly, his eyes narrowed.

“How about instead you let me go and I won't have my robot attack you? We can simply go our separate ways and forget this entire thing even happened.” Bumblebee looked back at him in disbelief, he couldn't believe the gall of this man. 

There was no way he was just letting Master Disaster off the hook after everything he'd done to them! And if Bumblebee let him go free what was stopping him from repeating this scheme with someone else? There was no way he wouldn't try this again now that he knew it would work, and the next time it might be even more heinous than the things he'd subjected him and Blitzwing to and Bumblebee was not going to let that happen!

Bumblebee glared daggers at Master Disaster as he tried to quickly think of a way to get the upper hand. 

Suddenly, Blitzwing started whispering to him, quietly enough so Master Disaster wouldn’t hear.

“When I count down to three I'll neutralize the robot, you make sure to get the human.”

Bumblebee inconspicuously glanced up, and slowly a devilish smirk made its way onto his lips. He gave a barely perceptible nod before returning his attention to Master Disaster.

“One...Two...Three!” And with that Bumblebee shot out from behind Blitzwing. From behind him he could hear the sounds of heavy cannon fire as Blitzwing kept his end of the deal and shot fire towards the robot. The entire forest lighting up because of the flames. 

There was a sudden, loud ‘BANG!’ behind him that had Bumblebee flinching, but he couldn't waste time focusing on Blitzwing's fight at the moment, as he continued racing towards Master Disaster.

He ran as quickly as his injuries would allow even as each step had pain spiking up his leg. His speed actually seemed to surprise Master Disaster because when Bumblebee finally reached him he hadn’t moved an inch

Bumblebee reeled back and before he hurled his fist forward and felt it connect with Master Disasters stupid face. It might have been the most satisfying feeling he ever had felt. Master Disaster was immediately KO'd by the punch and flew back a few feet before falling down onto the hard gravel unconscious.

Bumblebee looked down at him with a satisfied smirk.

“Take that you prick! Master Disaster, more like Master of getting his aft kicked! Am I right or am I right Blitz?!” He hooted still riding the high of finally getting some well deserved justice. “Whoo hoo!” He shouted. Victoriously throwing up his arms. 

“B-Bumble...Bee?” He heard Blitzwing's voice behind him, he sounded a bit odd.

“Yeah, what is it Bli-” When Bumblebee turned around so did all his previous excitement come crashing down, like a glass bowl hitting concrete so did his happiness shatter into nothing more than dust. 

Blitzwing wasn't looking at him as all his focus seemed to be drawn into staring at his own chest. His optics were wide and dilated and he looked to be in a state of shock. He was cupping his servos against his chest, and they were quickly overflowing with pink energon. Blitzwing's energon.

His cockpit had been shattered and broken glass covered the ground around him, the gravel path quickly being painted bright pink as fresh energon gushed from the open wound in his chest and dripped down his abdomen. In the center of the destruction, Bumblebee could see the bullet shell the robot had fired, it had hit Blitzwing straight on. 

Bumblebee just looked on with mounting horror as the outside sounds faded into nothingness. He could no longer hear the wind through the trees or the panicked chirping of the few wild birds that had stayed behind. He couldn't even hear his own venting. It felt like he wasn't even there experiencing the aftermath but more like he was simply watching it all happen through a Television screen.

Blitzwing slowly reached up and grabbed at the bullet still lodged in his cockpit. His digits kept slipping as fresh energon continued to pour out of the wound, and it must have hurt him terribly, but it looked as if Blitzwing wasn’t even feeling it, it seemed like he was in shock as his digits shook and his reaction time lagged with each new attempt to grasp the projectile. 

As soon as the shell casing was dislodged, Bumblebee could see a soft blue light peeking through the cracks of Blitzwing's armour.

It took a second for Bumblebee's dazed mind to process what he was seeing and when he did a cold wave of horror washed over him. The bullet had gone straight through both Blitzwing's outer armour and his spark casing. The blue glow was coming from Blitzwing's exposed spark.


	18. Chapter 18

Blitzwing's servos shook as he tried to staunch the flow of energon coming from the gaping wound in his chest. Pink life blood poured out from between his cupped servos and there seemed to be no stop to the bleeding as his entire front was quickly covered in bright pink.

He began swaying unsteadily before falling down to one knee, his whole frame shaking with the exertion of remaining upright as his venting turned harsh and ragged.

Bumblebee snapped out of his momentary shock as he realised he was just standing around like an useless idiot. _'Don't just stand there gawking moron! Do something!'_

He quickly ran over to the downed tripe changer, his servos hovering uncertainty over the others plating as he tried to remember any medical advice he might've seen on TV or remembered Ratchet telling him, but he just kept drawing a blank.

“Lay down!” Bumblebee finally screamed at him, his voice high with panic.

Under normal circumstances Blitzwing probably would've argued with him, but in his barely lucid state he did as he was told and laid down flat on the ground.

Bumblebee leaned over Blitzwing's chestplate and had to nudge Blitzwing's bloodied servos out of the way so he could fully assess how bad the damage was.

Primus, there was a lot of energon, and Bumblebee didn't have a clue on how to stop it. Sure, he could probably weld some of the metal edges around the wound together with his stingers, but ground zero was just a gaping hole that was much too big for him to have any hope of closing. And in either case, Blitzwing was bleeding out far too quickly for Bumblebee to waste time trying to weld the plating of his chest shut, and there was always the chance he'd make it worse if shrapnel had somehow become lodged in his spark chamber.

Bumblebee felt his panic only grow stronger as he became aware of the true extent of the damage Blitzwing had taken, and he realized then that he had no idea how to help or if he even had enough time left to do anything at all. 

Bumblebee started to feel more and more hopeless with every passing second. For Primus sake he wasn’t a field medic like Ratchet! He was a scout! He'd never been trained for situations like this, he couldn’t _handle_ situations like this! What was he even supposed to do?! 

Bumblebee looked back over Blitzwing frame and to his horror Bumblebee realized his once vibrant purple, black and beige colour scheme was already starting to fade into a flat dull grey. At that discovery Bumblebee couldn't hold back any longer as the tears he'd tried so hard to push back ran freely down his cheeks.

“Don’t you fraggin' dare offline on me now you scrap heap!” He screamed, his voice stained with both anger and despair as his spark twisted in agony at being forced to watch as Blitzwing's spark faded right in front of his optics.

“You just _can’t_ go offline!” He screamed. “I won’t let you! Do you hear me?! We didn’t come this far so you could lay down and die!” Bumblebee just continued screaming as he helplessly watched as Blitzwing's energon mixed with the loose soil, turning the nearby ground thick with mud. “You can't leave me! So- so don't you even think about going offline!' He hiccuped miserably, "You can't just leave me all alone...” Blitzwing looked up at him then, his once bright crimson optics going dim as his energy was slowly drained, but despite quite literally being on death's door, he still mustered up enough energy to smile softly at Bumblebee. The resigned look in his optics only further driving the knife into Bumblebee's spark. 

“I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to upset you like this…” His voice was small and fragile, as if each word he spoke took immense effort to force past his lips. Bumblebee harshly shushed him.

“Don’t talk! You need to preserve energy!” He said, as he tried to control his own panic and cull the shaking of his voice. “Everything's going to be alright! You're going to be fine! Just-Just-Just hold on!” His voice faded into static. He didn’t want Blitzwing to go offline! There was still so much he needed to tell him, there were still so many things he wanted to know! All the stories they'd miss out on, all the laughs they'd never have the chance to share, all the things that'd be left unsaid. If Blitzwing died here he'd leave an immense black hole in Bumblebee spark.

Bumblebee started crying harder after that, his violent sobs making it difficult to even distinguish anything as Blitzwing's paint scheme was quickly turned into dull grey smudges of colour. There seemed to be no end to his tears as they continued to steadily run down his cheeks only to drop off his chin guard and mix with the energon still flowing out of Blitzwing's chest

Bumblebee was suddenly pulled from his misery when he felt a gentle servo cup the side of his faceplate. He looked up tearfully and saw that Blitzwing was looking up at him with the same soft expression he'd used the last time he had cried, but this time was different. Blitzwing seemed to only have just enough energy to hold up a single trembling servo, and the optics that looked back at him were filled with a distressing amount of resignation as the coldness of his plating began to seep into Bumblebee's faceplate. Everything was wrong about this. Blitzwing's servos weren't supposed to be cold and shaky, they were supposed to be steady and full of warmth! Not whatever this slag was!

Blitzwing gently brushed the tears from Bumblebee's cheeks and hushed him softly, accidentally leaving a bright pink smear under his optic.

“Please don’t cry anymore... “ His faceplate clicked weakly as it tried to switch and failed, his frame simply not having enough energy left to allow for him to switch faceplates. “I hate seeing you cry…”

He then let out a deep sigh as his venting began to slow, his servo fell from Bumblebees cheek and Bumblebee was alarmed to see his spark starting to flicker like an old lightbulb. 

“No! Please don’t go! Stop it! Please just stop it!” Bumblebee screamed as if he could somehow convince Blitzwing's spark to stop fading. 

In hopeless desperation he just started punching Blitzwing's chest, his own servos turning bright pink as they became covered in Blitzwing's energon. Each hit that landed resounded with a dull 'clang' as he punched over and over again as Blitzwing made little to no reaction to show he even realized Bumblebee was hitting him.

Bumblebee only stopped hitting because his fists became so covered in slippery energon that every new hit just glanced off Blitzwing's armor. He miserably clinched his servos into tighter fists, and that was when he realised he'd completely forgotten he was still carrying the allspark fragment. 

He slowly uncurled his servo and looked down at the gentle, blue glow of the sliver of allspark. He then looked back down at Blitzwing and a desperate plan began to take root. There was one last ditch effort he could try. He had no idea if it would even work, but at this point did it really matter? He didn't have a single thing left to lose by trying.

Bumblebee hastily crawled up Blitzwing's armored chest plate until he was right over the wound. He could still see the blue light of Blitzwing's spark flickering feebly through the shattered glass of his cockpit and spark chamber so that meant he hadn’t joined the allspark yet, which also meant Bumblebee still had a chance to save him. 

His servos shook as he tightened his grip on the fragment and tried to mentally prepare himself for what he was about to do.

“Primus, please let this work.” He silently prayed. _‘I know it's not the same as Sari's key, but I still have to try! I've seen her do it at least a thousand times, so how hard could it be?’_ He raised the sharp end of the fragment over his helm, and with every last bit of strength he had left, he forcefully stabbed the fragment straight into the open wound in Blitzwing's chest plate.

A sudden ball of white light burst out from the shard and forced Bumblebee to quickly shut his optics.

Just as the light finally began to fade, a loud gasp could be heard as Blitzwing's ventilation system kicked back online.

Bumblebee opened his optics just in time to see Blitzwing attempting to sit up. The sudden, unexpected movement had Bumblebee losing his balance and falling off of Blitzwing's chest, only to be caught by his lap instead.

Blitzwing looked around in bewilderment for a second before he noticed the blue shard still poking out of his now healed cockpit, and he soon realized his mortal wound wasn't the only thing the shard had healed. The large amount of spilled energon had been reabsorbed back into his chassis and the multitude of scratches he'd incurred while in Master Disaster's hidden base had vanished. He might as well have gotten a complete overhaul with how thoroughly he'd been repaired. 

Blitzwing grabbed at the fragment and winced as he slowly pulled it out with a grunt of pain. It slid out of his plating without issue and he looked down at the shard in confusion as he tried to figure out what the slag had just happened.

At that time, Bumblebee had finally caught his bearings and was gazing up at Blitzwing in amazement. Blitzwing's optics were once again bright red and color had been fully restored to his frame. There was no trace of the deathly grey to be found and not only were his optics no longer flickering but they almost seemed brighter then before he'd been attacked! At that Bumblebee couldn’t hold himself back any longer. _'To the pit with self restraint!'_

Bumblebee jumped up suddenly and threw his arms around Blitzwing's neck, pulling him into a tight hug as he started sobbing happy tears into Blitzwing's neck cables. He was just so relieved to have the other back alive and whole.

He felt Blitzwing momentarily stiffen beneath him but soon he felt a large pair of arms hesitantly, returning his hug as they pulled his small frame closer to Blitzwing's chest plate. 

“Shh, please don’t cry. I promise I'm fine.” Blitzwing whispered softly, his voice back to its normal soft tenbre. Bumblebee's response to that was to tighten his hug until he was almost choking the other mech.

Blitzwing didn't seem to mind the added pressure as he started rubbing gentle circles across Bumblebee's back. Just the juxtaposition of those familiar warm servos touching him after having Blitzwing grasp at him weakly with cold shaky digits not two minutes before, was enough to set off a new round of intense sobbing.

They stayed just like that for a while, Blitzwing continuing to offer what little comfort he could as Bumblebee mourned for how close he'd been to losing this forever. 

Eventually, Bumblebee's sobs turned into the occasional sniffling hiccup as he began to calm down. He was still reluctant to release Blitzwing's neck from his death grip but he finally convinced himself to leg go, dropping down into Blitzwing's lap instead.

Bumblebee still kept his servos on Blitzwing's chest though. Some primitive part of him was afraid that if he let go for even an instant the other other mech would simply disappear.

Blitzwing didn’t seem to pay his uncharacteristic clinginess any mind as he continued to gaze down at Bumblebee with a softly.

Their optics meet and Blitzwing let his lips twitch into a rare smile, as Bumblebee smiled back with a wide grin. Suddenly, his furrowed his optic ridges into a deep scowl and smacked Blitzwing on the chest. 

“Don’t you EVER scare me like that again!” He yelled, his voice still somewhat hoarse from his previous crying fit as he pointed at the other mech with an accusing digit. Blitzwing just rolled his optics at Bumblebee's thearetics.

“It's not like it was my _intention_ to get shot. ” Bumblebee let out a huff and crossed his arms over his chest plate.

“Well, either way! Make sure that doesn't happen again! I can’t just-” Blitzwing's helm suddenly jerked to the right, as his optics began scrutinizing the surrounding forest.

Bumblebee noticed the intense shift in the atmosphere and he too started looking around, but he couldn't sense anything out of the ordinary.

“Blitzwing what are you-”

“Shh!” Blitzwing immediately cut him off as he seemed to be listening intently before his optics ridges started to furrow. “Can you hear that?” Bumblebee looked at him even more confused.

“Hear wha-” Blitzwings faceplate switched to Hothead.

“SHH! Shut up and use your audio receptors!” He hissed,

Bumblebee pouted and shot him an irritated glare, but he did stay quiet as he tried to listen for whatever Blitzwing seemed to be hearing.

It took a moment, but eventually Bumblebee realised that he too could hear something. It sounded like a motorcycle, and it was rapidly getting closer.

“Is that…” Bumblebee said slowly. “The sound of a motorbike?” Blitzwing frowned and suddenly grabbed Bumblebee around the waist and took him off his lap. He set the smaller bot gently on the ground next to him before quickly getting to his peds. He stumbled a bit at first, still reeling from the after effects of almost dying, but he got his footing back quickly.

“It's not just that." He said, his voice darkly serious. "It’s an Autobot.” Bumblebee's optics widened in surprise as he stared at Blitzwing in confusion.

“H-How do you know?!” He exclaimed, Blitzwing looked down at Bumblebee but kept casting worried glances towards the direction the sound was coming from.

“Whatever that fragment did to me, it was able to fix the damage Master Disaster did to my HUD.” Bumblebee still looked a bit confused so Blitzwing elaborated, “I can see Cybertronian life signatures again, and since all Decepticons on earth have cloaking tech and can’t be traced, that leaves us with only one option.” 

“It’s an Autobot.” Bumblebee finished. Blitzwing nodded as his faceplate switched back to Icy.

“It also means that my time is up.” Bumblebee felt dread begin to fill him at Blitzwing's statement and his servos started to tremble.

“W-what do you mean?” Bumblebee asked, nervously. He knew exactly what Blitzwing meant, but he still didn’t want to accept the reality.

Blitzwing looked down at him, his optics sorrowful and resigned as they realized their time together was drawing to a close. 

“It means that unless I want to get into another fight, I will have to leave.” Bumblebee desperately ran up to Blitzwing and grabbed a hold of servo, suddenly terrified at having to face going forward without him. He had almost lost him once this day, and he had saved him just for them to separate and become enemies again? It wasn’t fair!

“Y-you can’t just leave! This can’t just- This can't just end like this!” Bumblebee half expected Blitzwing to angrily shove him away for being so unreasonable, but instead he just gave a look of sorrow that said he wasn't any happier at the prospect of leaving than Bumblebee was. The servo currently encasing Bumblebee's much smaller digits gave a gentle squeeze.

“It’ll be alright. Your teammate will be here any moment, so you won’t have to be alone for very long.” Blitzwing whispered softly. 

Bumblebee shook his helm.

“That’s not the problem! I-I-I-” Bumblebee felt his mind drawing a blank. There was still so much going on and he hadn't even had enough time to fully process most of it! The moment Blitzwing left him here they'd be enemies again and Bumblebee didn’t want that, like, at all. But if Blitzwing stayed there'd probably be a fight and he didn't want that either. So Bumblebee was once again stuck between a rock and a hard place. “I just don’t want you to leave!” He finally blurted out earnestly. The sound of the motorbike was getting closer, and to Bumblebee's great distress, he felt Blitzwing let go of his servo. He simply looked down at Bumblebee and shook his helm sadly.

“I have to go…” he said, in a forced monotone, but Bumblebee could pick out a faint trembling in it, proving that Blitzwing didn’t want to part ways any more than he did. 

Bumblebee's whole frame started shaking as he watched Blitzwing prepare to transform.

“W-wait..” Bumblebee said, his voice barely a meek whisper. “Blitz there's something I've got to tell you…” Blitzwing gave him a look of urgency as he waited to hear what Bumblebee had to say.

“What is it?” He said, making it clear that time was almost up. It was now or never Bumblebee thought. This was his last chance to tell Blitzwing how he felt before they became enemies. This might even be the last time they would be able to have an actual conversation with each other. Bumblebee knew there was a possibility Blitzwing would just laugh at him, but he just still had to at least try before they parted ways. He couldn't let Blitzwing leave without knowing the truth about how he really felt about him. He needed to tell him how much he cared about him, that he had almost died had made it perfectly clear for Bumblebee that he never wanted to be apart from the triple changer, and he just had to tell him that. That he wanted to be close to him, that he wanted to continue talking to him, be with him!

“I...I…” Bumblebee stammered as he tried to force the words out. It wasn't even that hard, it was only three words! ‘I. Love. You’ It wasn’t a complicated sentence! But for some reason Bumblebee just couldn't force his mouth to form the words, and the longer he went without saying anything the more he started to panic. He couldn't let Blitzwing leave without at least saying something!

“I’ll see you around.” Bumblebee mentally kicked himself, why couldn't he just tell him the truth?! 'I'll see you around'?! Why had he said that!? Why couldn't he just say what he meant and stop being such a coward?!

Blitzwing looked down and gave Bumblebee a short nod before he spoke his own last words to the minibot.

“Goodbye, Bumblebee.” His tone was so soft and gentle and it made Bumblebee's spark hurt even more to hear it. After uttering those last two words he transformed into a jet and blasted off towards the star filled sky.

Bumblebee stretched out one his servos towards the quickly vanishing speck that was Blitzwing, as if he could still reach him if he stood on the tips of his peds.

_‘No! No! We can’t just leave it like that! I never got to tell you the truth! I never got to say I love you...’_ Bumblebee continued staring morosely at the night sky as he whispered what he'd been too scared to say.

“Please come back… I- I love you.” He was suddenly snapped out of his revery though when the dark forest was suddenly lit up with the flash of headlights. 

Bumblebee spun in the direction the light had come from and quickly tried to compose himself. He had just enough time to see a black motorcycle speeding towards him before it suddenly transformed, sending dirt and gravel flying in all directions as it came to a complete stop. Bumblebee immediately recognised the slender figure as Prowl.

Prowl just stood there unmoving as he looked at Bumblebee. His expression just as unreadable as usual. They stood there in quietness, but Bumblebee couldn’t handle the uncomfortable silence for long and gave out a forced chuckled.

“What took you so long?” He asked, humor in his voice.

Prowl finally started moving towards him, his footsteps picking up speed as he drew closer. Bumblebee really didn't know what to expect from the normally stoic bot, so he tried to prepare himself for anything.

Prowl closed the small distance between them and seemed to be looking the minibot over. When prowl didn't move to explain himself, Bumblebee huffed.

“If you're going to lecture me or something, just get it over wi-” Bumblebee didn't have time to finish because suddenly Prowl, surged forward and threw his arms around Bumblebee, pulling him into a firm hug.

Bumblebee just froze in place at the unexpected gesture from the normally impassive ninja bot. When he was finally able to snap out of his shock, he reached forward and hesitantly returned the hug. 

After a few seconds had gone by like that, Prowl seemed to remember himself as Bumblebee felt the other bots arms beginning to loosen their hold. Bumblebee responded to this by holding on even tighter.

He had given up so much and had fought so hard to get back to his team, and now just knowing that at least one of his friends was here with him, made it nearly impossible for him to let them go. 

Prowl must have read his silent plea for comfort, because he returned his arms to their previous position around Bumblebee's frame. They both stood like that for a while, just hold each other, both of them offering the other comfort.

Soon the sound of sirens reached their audio receptors and Bumblebee let go just as Prowl did the same and they both turned towards the approaching vehicle, Prowl keeping a gentle servo on Bumblebees shoulder.

Soon, bright blue and red lights started to illuminate the surrounding forest as an ambulance came careening around the corner before transforming into a very annoyed Ratchet.

“Prowl! I thought told you-” Ratchet angry lecture ended abruptly as he caught sight of Bumblebee and Prowl's lips quirked up into a barely noticeable smile.

“I found him.” He said at last, his tone conveying his immense relief.

Ratchet seemed to completely forget that he was about to chew out Prowl as he quickly made his way over and began to visually inspect Bumblebee.

“Do you have any mortal injuries?” He asked as he continued looking over Bumblebee's frame, his voice having that professional quality to it that meant he was much more worried than he let on. Bumblebee shook his helm.

“My ped's damaged and both my wheel and my tire are fragged, but otherwise I’m okay.” Ratchet nodded.

“Any helm or processor damage?” Bumblebee looked at him in confusion and lifted an optic ridge.

“I don’t think so… Why do you as-?”

Before Bumblebee was even finished saying the last word Ratchet smacked him hard in the back of the helm. 

“Youch!” Bumblebee yelped, putting a servo over his aching helm. _‘Yeah, I should have seen that coming’_

“Just what were you fragging thinking?! Optimus specifically told you to wait for backup and you went out by yourself anyway!" Ratchet shouted at him,his voice filled with anger and his optics narrowing dangerously.

Bumblebee looked at him with a scowl.

“Go easy on me doc bot! Don’t you think I've been punished enough already!” He yelled back, as he continued to rub at his aching helm. 

Ratchet just looked down at him with deep scowl, before seeming to shake it off. Bumblebee guessed that at this point Ratchet felt he _had_ to get at least one good hit in on principle considering all the dumb things he'd gotten himself into. 

He put his servos on Bumblebee's shoulders as his scowl slowly morphed into something more vulnerable.

“We all thought we'd might've lost you forever, kid.” He said. And to Bumblebee's shock, the old bot seemed genuinely upset that Bumblebee could have been offline. Ratchet's lips pulled into a small smile. “I’m glad you're still with us.” He said as he gave Bumblebee's shoulders a final squeeze. 

Bumblebee didn't give Ratchet time to pull away, as he immediately stepped forward and threw his arms around Ratchet. Pulling him into a hug as well.

“I’m really glad you're here.” He said softly, his voice mildly muffled from how hard he was pressing his faceplate into Ratchets plating. Bumblebee didn't even care if he was acting like a sparkling. He just wanted to hug all of his teammates to convince himself that this was really happening.

Ratchet stiffened for a moment before he awkwardly patted Bumblebee on the back, however their hug was cut short by the sound of pained groaning. 

When they turned towards the sound they could see that Master Disaster was starting to come around. Bumblebee saw both Prowl and Ratchet's expressions turn grim at the sight of him.

Ratchet shook himself out of Bumblebee's impromptu hug and walked over to the man, grabbing the human by the scruff of his racing suit and lifted him up to optic level. Ratchet glared distastefully at the pathetic villain, before letting out a huff.

“Let’s get him to the nearest police station. He's got a lot to answer for.” Ratchet muttered before turning back to Bumblebee. “We also need to get you to town so I can fix your ped and your blown tire.” Bumblebee nodded and absentmindedly tried to put some weight on his damaged leg, immediately feeling pain spike through his plating.

“Yeah okay, but how will I get to town? I can’t even drive” He said, feeling a bit befuddled over how they would go about fixing that problem. “I mean I could always walk, but that'll take awhile.” Ratchet scowled at him.

“You are not walking.” He said sternly, before turning his attention to Prowl.

“You’ll have to carry him, I’ll go ahead and hand this-” Ratchet shook Master Disaster for emphasis. “To the police station and then come back and help you the rest of the way. ” Prowl gave a nod of confirmation, giving Ratchet the all clear to leave. 

Ratchet transformed while holding Master Disaster, making that the human was firmly secured in the front passenger before locking his doors and windows before driving off the way he'd come.

Prowl and Bumblebee watched him leave until he took a sharp turn and disappeared from their line of sight. Prowl then bent his knees and looked over his shoulder.

“Get on.” Bumblebee realised what he'd have to do and he felt a little embarrassed at being forced to be carried around. He carefully climbed up on Prowls back and put his arms around the ninja bot's neck for support.

Prowl took a hold of both of his his legs before he stood up with a grunt and started walking, each step taking them further away from Bumblebee's former prison.

Bumblebee had to admit that it was nice not having to walk anymore as he sagged with relief. It was finally over. 

He felt exhaustion starting to take its toll as every piece of tension and worry he'd been carrying around with him for the last two-ish weeks lifted from his shoulders. 

He was finally going to be reunited with his team, Master Disaster was going away to prison for a long time, and he was finally safe. He'd won, but the taste of victory was overshadowed by a sour note. 

He glanced up towards the sky, hoping to see the shadow of a jet somewhere silhouetted against the the night sky, but all was clear and the only things peering down him were millions of stars.

He let out a deep sigh as his spark yearned for something he couldn't have.

He finally lost the battle to keep his optics open as he focused on the gentle swaying that came with every step Prowl took. The quiet noises of forest seemed to follow them, and before Bumblebee realised it, he'd fallen into recharge. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thedrawingbin made some amazing fanart for this chapter! Go check them out!  
> https://thedrawingbin.tumblr.com/post/625090268903964672/when-i-say-i-am-losing-my-marbles-about


	19. Chapter 19

Bumblebee felt himself slowly drifting towards consciousness as someone gently shook his shoulder. 

“Bumblebee.” A gentle voice said, but Bumblebee still wasn't alert enough to put a face to the voice.

He let out a quiet growl in his semi conscious state and tried to shake off their servo.

“The room isn't even shaking yet, let me recharge a little longer...” He mumbled. There was silence for a moment before the voice spoke again.

"What are you talking about kid?” Bumblebee's mind finally startled awake at the last word, as he realized that it wasn't the normal soft timbre of Blitzwing’s accent. 

Memories from yesterday came flooding back to him, as he finally opened his optics and looked up just to come face to face with Ratchet. He was crouching down next to him and had his servo on Bumblebee's shoulder. On the ground next to him was a bucket filled with water.

Bumblebee took a moment to sleepily take in his surroundings before he realised he didn’t recognise this place. It seemed to be, as far as he could tell, a garage and leaning against one of the far walls was Prowl.

Bumblebee slowly sat up and saw that he'd been laying on a makeshift berth made of tires. It wasn’t the best recharge spot, but it sure beat laying on the cold floor. Bumblebee then realized he had no memory of how he got here, he could remember Prowl carrying him out of the forest but everything after that was a blank.

“Where are we?” Bumblebee mumbled, tiredness still clouding his processor.

“A man allowed us to stay in his garage for the night so we could recharge.” Ratchet explained. Bumblebee just yawned.

“Is it morning then?” He asked, Ratchet shook his helm.

“No, I was going to start fixing your ped, but since I'd be working in such a delicate spot, I thought it best I didn't accidentally startle awake.” Bumblebee nodded his understanding.

Ratchet then reached down into the bucket and pulled out a wet rag. He wrung out most of the water before he started wiping at the plating surrounding the wound on Bumblebee’s ped, cleaning out a mixture of dust and sand as he prepared the area for repair. 

Everything was going fine until Ratchet wiped over a surprisingly tender spot and hot, fiery pain shot up Bumblebee's leg. 

“Careful!” Bumblebee hissed. Ratchet glanced up at him and just rolled his optics.

“Don’t be such a sparkling.” He grumbled back, though he did appear to be more cautious in his cleaning going forward. 

Bumblebee impatiently taped his digits on the tires beneath him as Ratchet dedicated a good 10 minutes to  _ just _ cleaning before he finally gave a satisfied nod. 

He dipped the towel in the bucket again and wrung out the excess water before looking back up at Bumblebee.

“Here.” Ratchet said and threw the damp towel right in Bumblebee's faceplate. Bumblebee took it off and shot a glare at Ratchet, as he held the cloth up with angered confusion. Seeing as Bumblebee didn't understand, Ratchet started explaining. “It's in case you want to clean some of that energon off of you.”

Bumblebee shot him one last irritated glare before he looked at his pink stained servos. 

They were still thoroughly covered in Blitzwing’s dried energon, and Bumblebee felt his spark ache again at the reminder of the triple changer. Eventually, he snapped himself out of it and began wiping the towel over his frame as he tried to remove the pink stains. As he cleaned his upper body, Ratchet began to inspect his hurt ped more thoroughly as he started pinching some of the damaged cables shut and welding some of the cracked plating back together.

When Bumblebee was almost finished cleaning off the dried energon, Prowl let out a cough that made Bumblebee look back at him. Once he had Bumblebee's attention, he pointed a digit towards his right cheek. Bumblebee slowly brought a servo up to his own right cheek and felt the texture of dried energon underneath his digits, he then realized it must have been left behind when Blitzwing had wiped away his tears.

After cleaning off the last of the grime from his faceplate Bumblebee ended up just dropping the towel next to him on the floor. He then just stared at the dirtied rag as his tired mind tried to pull itself out of its daze. But suddenly Ratchet started speaking.

“There was a significant amount of energon on both you and the scene when we arrived,” Ratchet stated. “But your injuries don't appear to be bleeding, and even if they were, it wouldn't account for how much we witnessed.” Ratchet continued, thoughtfully as he got up to grab a piece of sheet metal on a nearby table.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, the energon wasn't mine.” The words just slipped out casually before he even had time to think about it, and he saw Ratchet's thoughtful expression turn to one of confusion.

“Not yours? Then whose was it?” He asked, Bumblebee just blinked sluggishly for a few seconds before eventually responding.

“Blitzwing's…” He mumbled, Ratchet optics immediately darkened as he let out a low growl.

“Of course it fraggin' is.” Ratchet grumbled as he began scrutinizing Bumblebee with his optics. “Did he hurt you? We saw the two of you on the show, but we were only able to observe what went on in the individual matches, we had no idea what it was like for you behind the scenes.” Bumblebees optics widened in surprise.

“You watched the show?!” He exclaimed. Ratchet nodded as he began lining up the metal to weld over Bumblebee's injury.

“Yes, but it took awhile for us to find out about it." He said, "Most of the people that watched it were very tight lipped, and it was only after a low level crook that had seen your missing posters offered to reveal information in exchange for a milder sentence that we found out what was going on.” Ratchet continued, as he started welding the metal patch over the wound. "When we watched it and saw that Blitzwing was there fighting with you, we started to get seriously worried. Thankfully, it didn't look like that crazy con was actively  _ trying _ to offline you and we were mostly just relieved to learn that you were still alive.” Bumblebee had to bite his glossa, least he say something equally nasty to Ratchet for calling Blitzwing such a disrespectful thing like crazy. Sure, Bumblebee had referred to him the same way before this whole mess, but he  _ knew _ Blitzwing now! and it made his energon boil to hearing people call Blitzwing crazy when he was actually, by Bumblebee's standards at least, fairly sane. It wasn't Blitzwing's fault that he'd been broken a little more than the rest of them. Bumblebee snapped out of his inner monologue when Ratchet continued. “Why was that?” Bumblebee cocked his helm to the side.

“Why was what?” Bumblebee asked. Ratchet stopped his welding for a second.

“Why wasn’t he attacking you?” He explained. “In fact, sometimes it almost looked like he was protecting you.” Bumblebee opened his mouth to answer before quickly closing it again when he remembered the vow of silence both Blitzwing and him had made. Neither of them were supposed to reveal their pact to anyone, but that sure left him in a bit of a tough spot as far as explanation went. Still, Bumblebee had promised, and he had every intention of keeping it. Eventually he just shrugged.

“No idea.” He said, trying to sound as mystified by Blitzwing's actions as Ratchet was. “But it’s like you said, Blitzwing clearly got a couple of screws loose, so who knows what he was thinking.” Bumblebee hated every second of this. He hated having to talk about Blitzwing as if he were still just some unhinged stranger, the whole conversation left a disgusting taste in his mouth. Thankfully, Ratchet didn't pick up on his inner turmoil and seemed satisfied enough with his answer to return focus to his injury.

“He probably wanted to bring you back alive to Megatron.” Prowl chimed in, “Maybe he thought you'd be good for information, or maybe he was thinking of using you as leverage over us. For that they'd need you alive.” Prowl said thoughtfully, as he put a hand to his chin. “Still, you were alone when I found you, and right before I got there I heard a jet engine taking off, so I'm curious as to why he left you behind.”

Bumblebee started to silently panic as he tried to come up with a believable explanation for Blitzwing's actions, but thankfully he was saved from having to answer by Ratchet letting out an annoyed huff.

“I don’t think we should bother trying to make sense out of that maniac's actions, we'd just be wasting our time.”

“Yeah, I agree” Bumblebee concurred, desperately wanting to change the subject before he accidentally revealed something important. “So, what happened next? After you all learned about the show and stuff.”

“You tried to climb the electrified bars.” Prowl stated. Bumblebee felt himself internally cringe at his past action. He knew he'd been desperate enough to do just about anything back then, but Primus that had been a stupid idea. Prowl continued. “We were worried you'd been seriously injured, or even gone offlined, but later on your energy signature appeared on our radar so Optimus chose us to go investigate.” Prowl said, referring to Ratchet and himself. Ratchet chimed in just as he finished welding, having finally finished with that repair. He walked away and picked up a new tire that was laying on the ground before returning to exchange Bumblebee's busted wheel with a new one.

“Everyone wanted to go,  _ especially _ Sari and Bulkhead.” Ratchet said tiredly, as he rubbed his temples. “Primus, Sari made a big fuss about wanting to go.” Prowl nodded in agreement.

“It was quite impressive that she was able to scream at Optimus to let her go with us for over an hour straight without losing her voice” Ratchet shot him an annoyed glare.

“I wouldn’t exactly call throwing a tantrum impressive.” Ratchet grumbled before getting back on track. “Besides, someone had to stay to watch over Detroit, and Optimus didn’t want to risk putting Sari in the line of fire so she had to stay behind. Prowl and myself were chosen because someone would have to fix you up if you were hurt, and Prowl is a lot more stealthier than either Bulkhead or Optimus. So if infiltration was needed to get into wherever you were being kept, he was the better choice.” Bumblebee nodded his understanding, the decision to send Prowl and Ratchet did make a lot of sense. Prowl then continued.

“Your signal then disappeared again and when we reached the area you were last seen, there was already a group of squad cars investigating. One of the officers stated that a woman had confessed to seeing you there. We ended up searching the area until your signal reappeared and you know the rest.” Ratchet nodded absentmindedly as he finished attaching the new wheel and took a few steps back to observe his work, giving a satisfied nod.

“Try putting some weight on it.” Bumblebee nodded and stood up slowly, just to make sure he didn't suddenly lose balance.

His ped still felt a bit sore but the burning pain wasn't there anymore. He stomped his ped a few times for good measure, before walking around the room with relative ease. “How does it feel?” Ratchet asked as he watched Bumblebee move around the room.

“It feels fine.” Bumblebee responded before looking down at the silver sheet metal that had been placed over the wound. “Needs a bit of colour though..” He mumbled, causing Ratchet to let out a huff of exasperation. 

“Sari can fix it once we get back to base. Right now it only needs to be functional enough to make the drive back to Detroit, not pretty enough to win you first place in a beauty pageant.” Bumblebee let out an over exaggerated sigh but soon something else crossed his mind.

“Have you told the rest of the team you found me?” He asked. Ratchet shook his helm.

“No, they're probably recharging right about now and Optimus always calls us up in the morning anyway. So, I’ll wake you up before he calls so you can get to speak to both him and the rest of the team while you're at it.” 

“I won't be able to do that.” Bumblebee responded awkwardly. Ratchet lifted an optic ridge.

“Why not?” 

“My commlink doesn't work.” he explained, “Master Disaster messed around with a lot of things on my HUD, he took away access to my subspace!” Ratchet rubbed his temples.

“Of course…” He muttered, sounding exhausted as he came to terms with the heap of work that had just fallen in his lap “Alright, let me take a look at it.”

* * *

It was early morning by the time Blitzwing finally started to recognise some of his surroundings. The sun had just barely started peeking over the horizon and was turning the early morning sky soft shades of pink and orange.

He had been flying all through night as he made his way back to Decepticon headquarters, and he knew he'd have enough slag to deal with after his lengthy disappearance that he didn't want to waste any time by stopping for even a short break.

To say he was worried would be a severe understatement. He had no idea how his fellow Decepticons' would react to his return, but the thing he was worried most about was Megatron. Would he be angry? Understanding? Or would he just brush this whole thing under the rug and act like it never happened.

Though, worry about his faction wasn't the only thing that was clouding his processor. The whole time he'd been hurriedly flying his way back to base another, just as significant, feeling had begun to take root. He felt weird, like he'd just lost something very important and the space it used to occupy was now just an empty, cavernous void. 

And Blitzwing had a pretty short list of what could be causing it. Primus, he missed Bumblebee. He missed him so much it was enough to make his spark ache. 

Realizing the road he was currently going down, Blitzwing shook himself out of it, and firmly tried to dismiss those feelings. This was how it had to be, he'd known this was the inevitable outcome from day one. Still, knowing that this was how it had to end didn't lessen the feeling of hurt.

Blitzwing eventually saw a familiar cave entrance come into view, so he dipped down low before transforming midair and landed on the ground with such a heavy thud that birds flew out of any nearby trees in a panic.

For a moment he just stared into the dark opening of the Decepticons' temporary base of operations, and felt his anxiety fill him with dread.

_ ‘This is it  _ ’ He told himself, as he looked into the cavern. As soon as he made contact with his team, the contract he'd made with Bumblebee would officially be over. They'd both finally managed to escape and had been reunited with their respective teams, and what that all accumulated in, was that as soon as Blitzwing stepped foot inside his base Bumblebee would again be his enemy. 

He hated it, he hated the thought of having to fight against Bumblebee again, that he would be expected to hurt someone he'd actually come to care about, but this was the world they both lived in now. As individuals on opposite sides of the war they would be forced to do battle, it was just how it had to be.

Blitzwing took some deep ventilations and tried to school his expression into something neutral before he entered. He couldn't risk revealing to his teammates just how worried about this reunion he really was.

He walked deeper and deeper into the cave system, the ominous echoing of his every footstep making him feel terribly uneasy.

He heard a conversation going on from somewhere up ahead and immediately recognised the voices as belonging to Megatron and Lugnut. As he came closer he heard their conversation die down and Blitzwing was then sure they could hear his heavy footfall and could deduce that someone was approaching.

Blitzwing finally came out of the dark hall into a big room full of computer monitors and miscellaneous machines. There was also a glass cage where their human prisoner receded, appearing to be asleep at the moment.

Standing in front of one of the big screens was Megatron himself and a bit further away was Lugnut. Both of them were staring right at him. Lungut had an expression of confused astonishment, but whatever he was feeling was quickly replaced by rage. Megatron's expression was more difficult to discern as he seemed not the least bit surprised by Blitzwings return.

The tension between them was so thick it could've been cut with a knife and Blitzwing could feel Megatron's red optics boring holes into him. His spark pounded anxiously as he waited for the Decepticon lord's verdict.

Blitzwing, almost as if he were on autopilot, forced himself to continue walking forward until he was close enough to kneel in front of his leader in a submissive bow. It was Lugnut that finally broke the uncomfortable silence. 

“Blitzwing!” Lugnut yelled, sounding absolutely incensed at Blitzwing's abrupt return. “Where have you been!? You dare to just up and leave without even a single word and then expect our most glorious leader to-” 

“Lugnut.” Megatron called out leisurely, his voice a chilling baritone. Blitzwing stiffened in barely disguised fear, because even though Megatron wasn't addressing him at the moment his voice still held an undercurrent of rage. At that single word, Lugnut immediately lost any interest in berating Blitzwing further as his five optics instead shifted their focus to their leader.

“Yes my lord?” Lugnut asked. Megatron didn't even look at him as he instead made a shooing motion with one of his servos.

“Leave us.” Megatron commanded, Lugnut immediately bowed  his helm .

“As you command my lord.” Lugnut said and immediately started making his way out of the room. He paused long enough to give Blitzwing one last lingering look of anger before he was gone. Blitzwing honestly couldn't have cared less what Lugnut thought and didn't spare so much as a glance in his direction.

Blitzwing continued to stay in his kneeling position, keeping his helm held low and his vocalizer muted, as he silently prayed that Megatron might be at least somewhat appeased by his show of total submission. He didn't dare look up, least he meet the enraged optics of his leader, and instead kept his gaze locked firmly on the ground. 

The room was painfully quiet and it felt like he was waiting for a bomb to go off as he agonizingly waited for Megatron to speak.

“So you've finally chosen to return to us Blitzwing?” Megatron spoke in his usual calm elegance tone, but Blitzwing could still sense an undercurrent of rage bubbling just beneath the surface.

“My liege," He said, bowing his helm even lower. "I assure you, my absence wasn't of my own volition, the allspark signal was a trap specially created to capture me. It was only this very solar cycle that I was able to escape my confinement and return to your side.” Blitzwing explained.

The room felt tense as Blitzwing's words hung in the air.

“A trap you say?” Megatron asked thoughtfully, “Then what of the allspark fragment?”

“The fragment-” Blitzwing suddenly cut himself off. He'd completely forgotten about the fragment. Everything had been so hectic when he'd separated from Bumblebee that he hadn’t even realised he still had the fragment with him, and now the very thing that had been the catalyst for his misery was residing deep inside his subspace. In the end he'd been the one to keep the fragment.

He realized then that If he informed lord Megatron of his meager success he might be spared whatever punishment he had planned, but when he went to speak, those weren't the words that left his mouth. “I'm afraid it was a fake my lord. There was never an allspark fragment.” His voice gave away no hints to his dishonesty but he still worried that Megatron's suspicious optics could see right through him. 

Megatron finally decided to close the distance between them, his every step sending out a painful echo in the large chamber. It was like hearing a predator slowly closing in on its prey, but Blitzwing forced himself to exuded the outer appearance of neutrality to mask how terrified he felt. Soon, Megatron's peds enter his vision, and he realized this was it.

“There was no fragment?” Megatron asked again, Blitzwing felt his anxiety skyrocket. Had he been caught in his lie? Was this Megatron's way of giving him one last chance to come forward with the fragment before he got physical? No! There was no possible way he could know… Right? In the end he chose to take a gamble and his faceplate switched to Hothead.

“It was a cowardly trick!” Blitzwing reassured, sticking to his claim that he hadn't found anything. 

“A cowardly trick by whom?” Megatron asked curiously, Blitzwing felt his spark drop all the way down into his tank, but before he could even open his mouth to respond, Megatron continued to speak. “If it was the Autobots' who had put you in such a despicable predicament I would've expected you to have brought me back one of their helms, or at the very least a limb.” Blitzwing clenched his fists in preparation, he knew very well that what he was about to say next wouldn't sit well with Megatron. There was no use in lying about what had happened to him, and if he attempted to twist the truth or insinuate that it had somehow been the Autobots', fault he'd be found out quickly.

“It...It was a human” The room went deathly quiet after his admission, and Blitzwing just silently prayed that Megatron would take this revelation better than he was anticipating.

“So. You're telling me that  _ you,  _ one of my  _ top lieutenants _ , was tricked by a mere organic?” Blitzwing could hear the cold rage behind each word, and at that moment he wished he could just fly far away from here. “You were tricked…” Megatron continued coldly. “ _ Not _ by an Autobot, not even by that traitorous Starscream, not by any form of cybertronian life… but by a human?” Megatron watched him silently, his optics narrowed with thinly veiled disgust as he waited for his answer. Blitzwing swallowed thickly.

“Y-yes, my liege” He answered meekly.

The reaction to his admission was immediate. Blitzwing felt a servo violently grab him by the throat as he was hoisted upwards. Blitzwing was forced to balance on the very tip of his peds unless he wanted to suffocate, and he came face to face with Megatron's displeased snarl. The burning optics that bore into his own spoke of intense punishment and he felt horror start to swallow him up.

“You're such an incompetent fool that you fell for a trap set by a mere organic?” Blitzwing's servos clawed at Megatron's arm as he tried desperately to lighten the unrelenting pressure on his neck cables.

Blitzwings' faceplate switched back to Icy.

“Please forgive my incompetence lord,” He begged. It was becoming hard to talk as his intake was slowly being crushed under Megatron's servo. His vocalizer was starting to spit static and his every breath was accompanied by a rasping cough as he fought for air. “I just got a bit ahead of myself and forgot to be cautious.” His faceplate switched to Random. “You know that thinking clearly isn't my speciality!” He said, and tried to let out a laugh that ended up being more of a pained wheeze. 

Megatron just continued to stare menacingly into Blitzwing frightened optics for a while as Blitzwing himself tried his best to keep his precariously balanced peds on the floor. 

“What became of the organic?” Megatron asked in a chilling tone. Blitzwing honestly had no idea what had happened to Master Disaster after he'd left, but he knew Megatron wouldn't be satisfied with that answer. If he didn't tell Megatron what he wanted to hear this could end  _ very _ badly for him. He carefully schooled his expression into a mask of false glee and smiled deviously up at his leader.

“I smashed him into paste!” Blitzwing said, as he let out another wheezing laugh. “Squish, squish, squish, until he was nothing but a red stain under my ped!” Blitzwing continued to laugh, his own nervous, anxiety only helping to fuel his maniacal laughter until he was only a tick away from hitting full hysteria. 

Megatron just scrutinized the widely grinning faceplate for a moment as Blitzwing continued to laugh. Blitzwing was glad he was on Random at the moment he knew from experience that his most unstable personality was difficult to read at the best of times, and with any luck, Megatron would have a hard time telling truth from lie when he was faced with Random's erratic behavior.

Finally seeing something that must have satisfied him, Megatron released his grip and let the triple changer drop from his servo. Blitzwing landed hard on the stone floor and immediately began to cough and sputter violently as he attempted to draw in deep breaths of air through his vents. His servos coming up to rub tenderly at his abused neck cables. 

When he eventually composed himself enough to look up at the imposing figure of his leader, Megatron was smiling down at him with a wicked grin. Blitzwing felt his spark freeze with fear as he waited apprehensively for what his leader would say next.

“You are forgiven this time, but don’t  _ ever _ repeat this mistake, and don’t speak a word of your failure, it would be damaging for my reputation if people found out one of my top lieutenants were bested by a mere organic.” He said firmly. Blitzwing took that as his allowance to stand up. He was still a bit off balance and dizzy, but he played off the previous attack well as he tried to keep his frame steady. Megatron turned his back to him and then began walking back to his place at one of the monitors. “Regardless of your failure, I am pleased with your return. Now that you're back in our ranks you can resume making supply runs with Lugnut.” Megatron looked at him over his shoulder. “For now I'll allow you the time to rest. If I need you, I’ll contact you.” Blitzwing's faceplate switched back to Icy before he nodded and made a short, deep bow.

“Thank you my lord” Blitzwing responded gratefully before making his way out of the room in a hurry, not wanting to be around Megatron any longer than necessary in worried he would accidently inrage him again if he stayed. 

He quickly headed towards a little cranny in the cave system that he'd proclaimed as his own.

It wasn't much, just a dead end with a green tarp he'd hung from the ceiling to use in place of a door. They certainly weren't the greatest accommodations, but it fulfilled its purpose and the tarp at least provided him with a small sambalence of privacy.

He moved the tarp to the side before ducking under it, letting it fall back into position behind him.

There wasn't much more to look at on the inside, just a berth he'd managed to salvage, and not much else.

He slumped down on the berth with an exhausted groan. He was completely spent from flying nonstop through the night, and what little relief he'd felt at finally being away from all this Master Disaster nonsense had evaporated after his little “talk” with Megatron. 

Honestly, he just felt so unbelievably tired. 

But despite every piston in his frame begging for recharge, he still felt as if something was missing. That wonderful feeling of not having to recharge alone and waking up to the feel of a smaller frame pressed tightly against his own was long gone and he wilted miserably when he realized he'd never again be allowed to experience such a blissful night's sleep.

He let out a weary sigh. Was this how it was going to be for the rest of his life? Just this constant longing for something that he couldn’t have? Would he be forever cursed to care for a mech that probably wasn't even capable of returning his feelings? A mech that was more than likely celebrating his freedom and wouldn't even briefly look back on their time together?

He let out another sigh, and turned so he was laying on his side, something that he'd been sorely deprived of while he'd been imprisoned. He closed his optics and just listened to the wind that swept through the cave's tunnels systems, creating a lonely howl as he slowly, with a heavy spark, fell into recharge.

* * *

_ Bumblebee was standing in the middle of a clearing in the forest. It seemed somehow familiar, but foreign at the same time. It was late at night and the only light source was from a tiny sliver of moon light that shone down on him from above. He couldn't remember how he'd got here or even what he was supposed to be doing. _

_ Bumblebee just took it all in for a second before he suddenly realised he wasn't alone. His servo was tightly clasped in someone else's, and as he looked to the side he was met with the familiar sight of Blitzwing’s giant frame. _

_ Bumblebee felt his mouth widen into a sunny grin as he lightly squeezed Blitzwing servo, the answering gentle squeeze he got in return making him feel as if his spark was doing somersaults inside his chest. _

_ He then felt Blitzwing slowly start moving forward, his servo slipping out of their shared hold as he started walking away. Bumblebee immediately tried to follow after him, but he might as well have been wading through syrup for all the good it did him. For every step he took Blitzwing only seemed to get further away from him.  _

_ “H-hey Blitz! Wait up!” He called out desperately, but the larger mech didn’t spare him so much as a glance over his shoulder, his footsteps eating up the distance between them until he was almost out of sight. Where he once stood lay an ominous puddle of pink energon. _

_ Bumblebee tried to run faster to catch up with him. He never wanted to leave his side! But for all the running he did, he couldn’t seem to get anywhere. It was as if the whole world was moving at normal speed while he was trapped moving at slow motion. _

_ Bumblebee frantically stretched out his servo, because regardless of how far away Blitzwing seemed, he couldn't give up hope that the triple changer wasn't yet beyond his reach. If only he could pull him back! He longed to touch him and be able to hold him in his arms again. 'No!' He shouted in his mind, he didn’t want Blitzwing to leave! He'd never even gotten the chance to say how he really felt! He hadn't been able to tell Blitzwing the truth, and now was he going back to Megatron! Back to the Decepticons, back to the same mechs that had hurt him, back to being his mortal enemy. He didn't want that to happen! He didn't want Blitzwing to leave! _

_ “Blitzwing! Blitzwing, please come back! Don't leave me all alone! Blitzwing! Blitzwing!-” _

“Blitzwing!” Bumblebee yelled, as he shot up into a sitting position. His spark was pounding wildly inside its chamber and his optics immediately started darting frantically around the room. He was confused as to why he hadn't woken up in his cell, but soon the memories came flooding back as he remembered what had happened.

He then let out an immense sigh of relief and just put his faceplate in his servos as he shakily pulled air into his vents.  _ ‘It was only a nightmare.’  _ He reassured himself, as he tried to still his racing spark,  _ ‘That's all it was... Just a nightmare.’ _

When he finally calmed down enough to pull his helm out of his servos, he noticed that both Ratchet and Prowl were missing. They'd all cycled down for recharge once Ratchet had finished with his repairs to both Bumblebee's HUD and his subspace, but he had no idea where his teammates were now. 

He felt a familiar touch of anxiety creep up inside him, but he didn't have to worry for long, because the garage door was suddenly thrown open scaring the spark out of him. Ratchet barged in with a look of panic on clear display. Only once his optics landed on Bumblebee and he assessed that there weren't any immediate threats in the area, did he drop his fighting stance.

“I heard a scream, is everything alright kid?” Bumblebee looked at him in a state of shock as he held a servo over his, once again, racing spark.

“Primus sake Ratchet! You almost gave me a spark attack!” Bumblebee shouted. Ratchet's obvious concern seemed to melt away at Bumblebee's response; concluding that if Bumblebee felt well enough to make comments like that then he was probably fine.

“You screamed,” he repeated as he waited for Bumblebee to explain himself. Bumblebee just scratched the back of his helm and gave the medic an awkward smile.

“It was just a bad dream. I'm fine.” He said dismissively, “Where is Prowl?”

“He’s getting us all some oil.” Just the word 'oil' had Bumblebee's tank rumbling. Until this moment he hadn't even realized just how hungry he was, the last few days of skipped meals not doing his battered frame any favors.

Bumblebee put his servos on his knee joints and forced himself up with a groan. He ended up walking right past Ratchet in his hurry to look outside. It still seemed to be early morning as the sun was still hanging low in the pastel coloured sky. Thankfully, it was already providing enough light to see out.

Bumblebee still almost couldn’t believe he was finally free. Master Disaster was going to prison for a long time and he was now free to go and do whatever he wanted. It felt almost too good to be true. 

He heard the sound of light footsteps coming around the corner and turned just in time to catch Prowl approaching with three oil barrels in his arms.

Once he was close enough, Prowl offered him a barrel to take before give the other to Ratchet.

Bumblebee accepted the oil gratefully and immediately started to guzzle it down. He emptied it in record time before tossing the canister aside and sighing contentedly. 

The others drank their oil at a much more leisurely pace and they just barely had time to finish before their group commlink sparked to life. 

“This is Optimus calling Ratchet and Prowl, what is your current status? Have you made any progress in locating Bumblebee?” Optimus sounded absolutely  _ wrecked _ . He must not have been recharging well either; because his voice sounded uncharacteristically exhausted as he anxiously asked after his lost team member. 

Bumblebee took the initiative and activated his own commlink before either Ratchet or Prowl could pick up.

“We've got good news for you boss bot!” Bumblebee said excitedly. Optimus went completely silent on the other end, and Bumblebee could just imagine the gears turning in his leader's helm.

“Who is this?” Optimus asked, sounding like he couldn’t believe his audio receptors as the tiredness in his voice vanished in an instant. Bumblebee couldn't help but grin into his com.

“What? I'm gone for like, two-ish weeks and you've already forgotten about me?” Bumblebee asked cheekily. The response was immediate.

“Bumblebee?!” Optimus exclaimed, completely ignoring Bumblebee's quip. 

“The one and only!” Bumblebee responded, hoping Optimus could hear his smile over the commlink. He heard a huge sigh of relief from the other end, but soon after that he could hear the sound  of typing.

“Hold on, I’m transferring your call to the monitor's speakers.” Optimus explained, as his typing tapered off, and Bumblebee could then hear Optimus scream:

“Sari! Bulkhead!” Get over here!” He called out and Bumblebee could hear some shuffling going on in the background and something that sounded like blankets being moved was audible. Soon, a pair of frantic footsteps could be heard through to commlink, and Bumblebee couldn’t help but bounce on the spot in anticipation. A child's tired voice was the first to break momentary silence.

“Have Ratchet and Prowl found out anything new?” Sari asked, her voice punctuated by a quiet yawn, revealing that she'd probably just woken up “Have they found Bumblebee yet?” She continued with fragile hope.

As Bumblebee listened to her worry over if they'd found him, he couldn't help but feel terrible for the stress he must have caused her. She'd already lost her dad and then he'd gone missing seemingly out of nowhere! Primus, he wished he could somehow teleport into Detroit right now and just hold her. Bumblebee spoke up before Optimus got the chance.

“Nope, sorry we haven't found a thing!" Bumblebee said casually. The line went silent again after his announcement, but soon a shrill scream echoed from the other end, causing both Ratchet and Prowl to mute their commlinks with a cringe.

“Bumblebee!” Sari screamed with joy. “They finally found you!” Any of her earlier sleepiness seemingly vanishing into thin air. Only after Sari calmed down from her initial burst of joy did Bulkhead finally speak up, sounding a little more reserved. 

“Are you okay little buddy?” He asked hesitantly, Bumblebee scowled.

“Don't call me  _ little  _ buddy! Why can't you just say buddy!” He shouted angrily. 

“He’s alright!” Bulkhead declared happily as both he and Sari descended into giggles.

Sari was the first to compose herself after their impromptu relieved laughter.

“When will you get back to base!?” She shouted happily, her voice overflowing with excitement.

Bumblebee turned towards Prowl and Ratchet in silent request for an answer, and Ratchet grumpily joined the conversation.

“We’ll start heading back today, but we'll probably have to stop for recharge at least once along the way; however, if we keep up a good pace we'll probably only have to stop once." Ratchet responded thoughtfully. Sari went silent, probably trying to make a mental note of that before she responded.

“Just come back as quickly as you can!” She exclaimed. Optimus chose that moment to step in.

“But be careful, and take as much time as you need. It’s more important that you come back safe.” He lectured, Bumblebee just rolled his optics.

“Who's to say I can’t do both?” Bumblebee responded. He heard Optimus take a deep inhale over the line, probably preparing some kind of speech about the value of safety over speed, when Sari thankfully cut him off.

“Just hurry up and go already! The more time we waste talking about this just means it'll take you longer to come back!” Seeing an argument in the making, Ratchet chose that time to step in and change the subject.

“Optimus, I'll be sure to keep you posted and com you both before we recharge for the night and when we leave in the morning. You should expect us to arrive sometime by late tomorrow.” 

“Thank you Ratchet,” Optimus answered gratefully. “We’ll all be looking forward to your return. Please stay safe.” 

“But don’t go at a snail's pace either!” Sari chimed in, causing Bumblebee to let out a giggle.

“Me? Slow? Wouldn’t dream of it!” Bumblebee exclaimed with false outrage, “I'll be seeing ya tomorrow!” He continued with a grin, and with that the call ended.


	20. Chapter 20

Blitzwing awakened with a pained groan. He opened his optics slowly and took in the room around him with a sigh, realizing where he was.

He brought up his chronometer to check for how long he had been recharging and his optics widened slightly when he saw that he'd been laying there for 14 hours straight. He supposed it really shouldn’t be that surprising, considering just how hectic the last few days had been and this was also the first recharge cycle he’d had in some two weeks where he could sleep in as long as he wanted. 

Blitzwing just laid there motionless for a while. He really didn't have any reason to get up, and as Megatron had yet to command him to report for duty, he had no pressing work to get done. He also _really_ didn't want to engage with the members of his faction right now, so he might as well just stay where he was. It was as good a plan as any. 

He proceed to lay there until the pressing need for fuel forced himself out of berth.

He walked out of his room cautiously and didn’t stop until he came to the part of the cave where the Decepticons' kept their fuel stores. 

There was several barrels of oil there but despite that so did he only take two, knowing that if Megatron found out he took more, he'd be in some serious trouble. His relationship with the Decepticon leader was already on shaky enough ground as it was. He didn't want to put any added strain on it by grabbing more oil then was allowed, testing Megatron's patients right now would be unwise.

He drank one of the oil cans on the spot before grabbing the other and heading towards the opening of their base. He really hoped he wouldn’t accidentally bump into anyone on the way. Talking to any of the other mechs in his faction was the last thing he wanted right now, and Primus knew, if he happened to run into Lugnut there'd probably be an argument if not an outright fistfight.

When he finally made it outside without running into anyone, he let out an immense sigh of relief. The bright light hitting his optics was a wonderful change from the damp, dark cave system and he ended up having to reset his optics a few times in order to see clearly. He leaned his back against the mountain side and just took in the scenery around him as he sipped leisurely at his oil.

It was a nice day, the sky was clear and there wasn't a single cloud to hamper the sun shining down on him. Honestly, he still hadn’t quite gotten used to seeing anything other than the dark cell he'd been trapped in, but the change in scenery was a welcomed change.

He thoughtfully took another mouthful of oil. He was still a bit unsure as to what he should do. Now that he was finally free, he could do almost anything he wanted. Still, there was the question of what he should do with his newly regained freedom. Deep in his spark he knew there was really only one thing he wanted to do with his time, but he also knew that it was an unattainable fantasy.

All he really wanted right now was to be with Bumblebee again. The thought of being forever separated from the other mech made his spark ache terribly. He missed listening to Bumblebee ramble on about random nonsense, he missed hearing about the stupid things he would just suddenly come up with, he wanted him to lay close to him again, he wanted to wake up and see that big, sunny smile. He wanted all those things back, and despairingly he realized he'd never get to experience any of it again. 

He let out a depressed sigh and downed the last of his oil before shoving the empty canister in his sub space. Just as he withdrew his digits, he was once again reminded of the other thing residing in his sub space, burning him with it's knowledge, the allspark fragment. He scowled at himself for forgetting about it. He needed to figure out what he should do with it, and fast.

He looked around nervously, seeing no one. He knew it was stupid, it wasn't as if Lugnut or Megatron could suddenly read minds, but the secret he still held had put an anxious wedge between them and himself. His spark making him feel as if he needed to keep some distance between them, at least until he could figure out what to do.

He looked up towards the sky and remembered what he had told Bumblebee that one time. How the thing he looked forward to the most was being able to fly again. He gave a sad, wistful smile at that memory before he suddenly transformed into his jet alt mode and took off.

Blitzwing flew around for a few hours, looking for a good spot to land where he might be left alone with his thoughts. He certainly didn't need any humans or other cybertronians dropping in on him as he reflected on his situation.

He finally decided to make his landing on a island in the middle of a lake near Detroit. He flew behind a patch of sparsely growing trees, before transforming midair and landing on the muddy ground with a thud. The trees' seemed to be in the process of losing their leaves, as many in shades of yellow, orange and red had started to litter the ground beneath them. 

He gave a quick, cursory look around, just making sure that he was actually alone and that no one at base had followed him here.

When he'd finally assured himself that he was truly alone he sat down heavily, and balancing his helm in one palm, he used the other to pull the allspark fragment from his subspace. Thankfully, his signal dampener was still functional, and it would hide both the fragment's location and his own from any nearby radars.

He looked down at the soft, blue glowing crystal in his servo and started absentmindedly moving it between his digits, making it spin whimsically as he thought.

He honestly wasn’t sure why he'd chosen to lie to Megatron about the fragment. Maybe it'd been because he'd been so surprised himself at the realization that he had accidentally taken it. Maybe he'd just been too stunned at the moment to speak the truth. He knew that couldn't be the only explanation, and he would have to reflect on the real reason he'd done it later, but for now he still needed to figure out what to do with it before the Decepticon leader figured out that he'd lied.

It had been _incredibly_ stupid of him to lie. If he'd just presented the fragment to Megatron when he'd had the chance, he might've been able to escape the punishment Megatron had given him yesterday. There was also the ever looming threat that if Megatron ever found out about his deception, he'd be seen as a traitor in Megatron's optics. Blitzwing gulped nervously, he knew what happened to traitors' in the Decepticon army, Starscream was a wonderful example. If Megatron _ever_ found out what he'd done he'd make yesterday's punishment seem like _mercy_. 

He supposed he still had the option of handing the fragment over. He could just tell Megatron he'd found it during his flight. It would surely lighten his displeasure at his absence, and it would also give Blitzwing the pleasure of rubbing his renewed favor in Lugnut's faceplate.

Blitzwing seriously considered that option, handing the fragment over to Megatron made the most sense, but he couldn’t help but feel something else nagging at the back of his processor. 

Blitzwing might've been the one to come away with the fragment in the end, but honestly it still didn't feel like it was his to turn in for glory. The only reason he had it in the first place was because Bumblebee had used it to quite literally save his life and it was by pure accident that he had it at all.

His original plan had been for Bumblebee to keep it; after all, it'd been Bumblebee who'd first picked it up and Blitzwing hadn't had the spark to rip it from his servos. So, to him it still felt as if Bumblebee was the rightful owner, he was just... Holding on to it for him.

The longer Blitzwing thought about it, the more he could feel that familiar feeling of yearning come creeping back into his spark. That same awful feeling that he'd lost something important, like he'd misplaced something deep inside and was being punished for it. He'd been actively trying to push it to the back of his processor all day, but as he continued worrying about what he should do about the shard, all those formerly ignored feelings for Bumblebee just ended up being dragged painfully back to the surface.

From trusted ally back to former enemy. They had been holding each other only yesterday, and now every good thing about their time spent together seemed so far out of reach. They'd both had to say goodbye so abruptly... 

Blitzwing felt his faceplate switch to Hothead.

Bumblebee's stupid teammate just had to show up right then! Why couldn't they have shown up a day earlier when Bumblebee actually needed him?! But no! They just had to show up in time to cut their goodbye's short. Blitzwing huffed angrily, he hated that they'd been torn away from each other so soon. Everything about their last moments together just felt so unfair! There had been no grand finale! No time to mourn for their lost allegiance! Just an abrupt and very unsatisfying end. 

As he tried to calm down, he continued to absently spin the fragment around in his digits. Suddenly, he came to an uneasy realization.

He wouldn't be able to let this go. There was no way he could just leave things as they were without first having the chance to at least _try_ for a proper resolution. He'd have to meet up with Bumblebee again, give them both one last chance to meet on friendly terms. Maybe if he could get closure on this one part of his life, he'd be able to put his feelings for the Autobot to rest. He couldn't stand the thought of feeling like this for the rest of his life! Just this constant feeling of dissatisfaction with the way things had ended. Surely, if he was allowed one last the chance to talk with Bumblebee he'd be able to move on. Though a nagging part of him said even that wouldn't be enough.

He stopped playing with the fragment and just clinched his servo around it.

But that wasn't the only reason he needed to make contact with Bumblebee, he also needed to repay him for saving his life.

Blitzwing knew that this would _absolutely_ count as treason, but just this once he would do something that _he_ wanted to do and nothing would change his mind. Megatron would never find out about this, and what Megatron didn't know wouldn't hurt Blitzwing.

Though, the real question was how he should even get in contact with Bumblebee, much less ask to meet on friendly terms. Now that they were free from Master Disasters clutches it was entirely possible that the minibot had already moved on and didn't _ever_ want to see Blitzwing again. 

Oh, that thought kind of stung. Blitzwing clinched his optics shut and shook his helm as he tried to push away the odd pang of hurt, he couldn't let himself become distracted right now.

He chose to remain sitting there, alone in the middle of the forest, as the rough makings of a plan slowly began to formulate inside his mind.

* * *

They'd been driving on the highway for several long hours, and the night sky had even descended, before Bumblebee saw anything remotely familiar.

After travelling for so long without a break he could just about make out the outline of a huge cityscape, and as they drew ever closer, it seemed to be rising up to meet them. Thousands of lights were shining in unison, like a lighthouse leading them home. Finally, Bumblebee had made it back to Detroit.

He could barely contain his excitement, and he had to make a conscious effort to not outpace Ratchet and Prowl as he could've easily left them in the dust.

They continued forward, Bumblebee soon recognizing the roads they were driving on as being the same ones that he'd driven down innumerable times and knew like the back of his servo. The familiarity was an extremely welcome change from the miles and miles of empty highway they'd just had to traverse. 

As they made their way towards the center of town Bumblebee noticed missing person flyers bearing his picture becoming more and more frequent. Every street corner, lamp post, shop window, they were plastered all over the place. There was even a large billboard bearing his smiling faceplate, pleading for information about his disappearance. It all felt rather surreal. 

They took one last turn and Bumblebee could feel his spark beating faster with anticipation. Finally his base, his home had come into view. He initiated his transformation sequence once they'd come to a stop in the outside parking lot, Ratchet and Prowl soon following suit. All three of them just stood there for a moment, just talking in the sight of their base of operations.

Bumblebee felt somewhat dazed as he stared at the familiar abandoned factory.He almost couldn’t believe it, but he'd made it! He was finally home! He looked at the base's door fondly as his spark raced with excitement. 

He walked up and just laid his servo over it, feeling the cold metal leaching into his plating. He did it mostly just to prove to himself that this was all real. The hard metal under his digits held firm though, and that was when he finally accepted that this was all real. He was really back home, after everything he'd been through, he'd finally made it.

He curled his digits into a light fist and rapped his knuckles against the door, requesting entry. Bumblebee barely had time to knock once, because as soon as the first knock rang out, the door slid up, inviting him in from the cold outdoors and into the warm light of the heated base. What he saw inside surprised him, but he was soon filled with the purest kind of joy.

Inside there were several large, multicolored balloons littered around the room as well as a giant sign hanging from the ceiling that read: ‘Welcome home Bee!’ drawn in with big colorful letters. However, his optics soon left the sign as he excitedly scanned the room for his teammates, before finally catching sight of them. 

Optimus was standing a bit away from the entrance and was smiling at him with a look of both happiness and intense relief and finally, in the middle of the room, were Sari and Bulkhead. Both of them seemingly overcome happiness at his return.

Sari made no attempt to contain her jubilation at seeing her missing friend, and immediately took off running towards him in a mad dash. 

Bumblebee kneeled down and held up a servo to be used as a stepping stool. She jumped up onto it and Bumblebee lifted her up the last bit so she could throw her arms around his neck. She held on like she never would let go, and Bumblebee placed his other servo on her back and pulled her close. They just stayed like that for a moment, just holding each other, before she reluctantly let go so that Bumblebee could place her back on the ground. 

“Welcome home!” She shouted with a large smile.

"You know I couldn't stay away forever! After all, there's no place like home!”

That was the last thing Bumblebee was able to say, before he was suddenly pulled into a vent crushing hug as Bulkhead lifted him up into the air. Bumblebee made a weak attempt to reciprocate the hug but his arms were so tightly pinned against his sides that the most he could do was give Bulkhead small pats.

"Good to see you too big guy." He wheezed.

“Careful with him!” Ratchet chimed in grumpily, Prowl and himself having just having entered the room “He’s still injured.” Bulkhead immediately let go and gently set Bumblebee back down.

Bumblebee took in a relieving breath of air through his vents as he was set down; before looking up at Bulkhead with a big grin. Bulkhead responded to that with a friendly slap on the back that almost knocked Bumblebee over from the sheer force behind it.

“We were all so worried about you! You just up and disappeared!” Bulkhead said, his voice sounding concerned, as he stared down at Bumblebee with a worried, pinched expression.

Bumblebee just gave him a cocky grin.

“Ah, come on Bulky! You should know me better than that by now! No matter what's thrown my way I'll always bounce back!” He said, as he started flexing his arms. 

Bumblebee's blasé response seemed to soothe at least a little of Bulkhead's worry as the bigger Autobot gave a relieved laugh in response.

From the corner of his optic Bumblebee could see Optimus starting to make his own approach.

Optimus looked like he hadn't gotten a good recharge in ages and exhaustion seemed to be written in every line of his faceplate. Still, when he smiled tiredly at Bumblebee, all his fatigue seemed to be forgotten as he projected a feeling of relief.

“Welcome back Bumblebee.” Bumblebee gave him a smile in response, before he suddenly remembered something that had him dropping his gaze to the floor as he began to fidget a bit awkwardly. He didn't like what he was going to say next, it made him feel so awkward, but he couldn't end this confrontation without saying what he knew needed to be said. 

“I'm really sorry for not listening to you when you said to wait for backup." Bumblebee said, somewhat uncomfortably. "I shouldn't have just gone off by myself, it was pretty stupid of me.” He admitted. Optimus let out a light sigh.

“Apology accepted, just try to not do it again” He said softly. Bumblebee was surprised to not be met with the usual firm lecture, boss bot didn't even sound slightly annoyed at him. No, the only thing coming across right now was warm relief. 

Bumblebee let out a light huff.

“Yeah, you don’t have to tell me twice.” Optimus then spread out his arms in a clear invitation for a hug. Bumblebee didn't think twice before accepting it.

They eventually pulled out of their hug and now that greetings were out of the way Bumblebee looked down towards Sari.

“Hey Sari, do you think you could spare me a little allspark magic?” He asked, twisting his ped so she could get a clear view of the silver metal piece that had been hastily welded on top of his wound. The quick patch job standing out starkly in comparison to his scratched, yellow paint.

“Sure!” She answered happily, and pulled out her key. 

Bumblebee kneeled down far enough so she could reach, and soon the room filled with white light as she inserted her key. Bumblebee instantly felt all of his exhaustion, his aches, his pains instantly vanish. His dents were straightened out, and the dirt and dust that'd been trapped in nooks and crannies of his plating disappeared. When he finally reopened his optics, he felt amazing.

He stood up and started inspecting himself. He grinned widely as he took in his bright yellow paint that didn't show even the faintest hint of the hell Master Disaster had put him through. He stretched a little, just revealing in the blissful feeling of not being in pain anymore.

“Feeling better?” Sari asked with a giggle as she watched Bumblebee twisting and posing with renewed vigor. 

“Better than before I left!" He told her with a grin. 

Suddenly, Optimus chimed into their conversation.

“Speaking of the allspark, Master Disaster used a fragment to control you, right?” Bumblebee scowled, still irritated over being controlled like a puppet. He stopped his stretching and gave a nod. “So, where's the fragment now?” Optimus asked curiously.

“Oh it’s-” It was at that moment that Bumblebee realized he didn’t have the fragment anymore. He'd had it when he used it on Blitzwing, but he hadn’t picked it back up after that. 

He began to wrack his processor, trying to remember where he could have left it. He was pretty sure he hadn’t seen it outside Master Disaster base, but if that was true then there was only one place it could've gone.

“I guess Blitzwing must have taken it…” Bumblebee mumbled, “I’m sorry.” Optimus shook his helm and gave him a reassuring smile.

“It's fine Bumblebee, we'll deal with that later. The important thing is that you're back home, alive and safe.”

Sari seemed to think of something herself and looked up at Bumblebee with a new look of curiosity.

“What was it like being on the show? Did you beat up Blitzwing? Or talk to him? Oh! What happened after you left the arena?! Where did you go when you weren't fighting?!” She asked excitedly as she continued to bombard Bumblebee with questions.

Bumblebee went silent. If he was being honest he'd really rather not talk about anything to do with the show. The sooner this whole thing got swept under the rug and forgotten the better. He was also a little nervous talking about his time spent there, any topic brought up would be a verbal minefield and Bumblebee didn't trust himself enough to navigate it without saying something he wasn’t supposed to, and it certainly didn’t help matters that everytime he was forced to recall the show he was once again reminded of Blitzwing. His spark ached just thinking about the triple changer and a strong feeling of yearning started to bubble up inside him.

Thankfully, Optimus seemed to pick up on Bumblebee's hesitance to answer and chose that time to step in.

“Sari, I think Bee is still a little tired, how about we all get some rest and talk about this another day.” Optimus suggested. Bumblebee had never been more grateful to be saved from talking about something. Sari seemed to get what Optimus was hinting at and left the topic alone after that.

However, she soon got a new idea and turned back to Bumblebee.

“Come on! You have to see the awesome pillow fort we built while you were gone!” She said and ran over to the sofa. Bumblebee's optics followed her path and only then did he notice what had become of that part of the base.

The back of the sofa had a large blanket thrown over it, serving as a roof, and was held in place by some stacked oil barrels. The floor was riddled with pillows, blankets and even a mattress that must have been taken from someone's bed. Comics and dvds were scattered everywhere and in the middle of the chaos was a single flashlight.

The fort was a decent size, and it looked big enough that most of team prime could probably fit under its “roof” comfortably. It also looked like it must have been up for a while as there was a messy sleeping bag laid out in the middle and it looked like Sari had been sleeping there.

Bumblebee walked over to the fort to inspect it more thoroughly, Bulkhead eventually walking up beside him.

“Has Sari been sleeping here?” Bumblebee asked quietly, Bulkhead nodded.

“After you disappeared Sari had a hard time falling asleep. She was insistent that if she had to sleep at all, she would do it by the monitor in case there were any updates about your location. So, as a compromise we built her a comfortable place to sleep in the middle of the living room. Usually, at least one of us was there to keep her company as that was the only way she could fall asleep.” Bumblebee felt his spark ache at finding out just how much stress he'd unknowingly put Sari through. She must have been so worried. He soon snapped out of his depressing thoughts though, when Sari climbed on to top of the sleeping bags and beckoned him to join her in the fort.

Bumblebee got down on his servos and knees and crawled in. Once inside she patted the soft ground next to her. Bumblebee then laid down on the soft carpet made of cushions and blankets. Wow, it felt really nice in here! This was the most comfortable bed he'd gotten to lay on for weeks! He put his arms under his helm and gave a relaxed sigh.

Sari turned to him with a smile.

“Isn’t this great!? Everyone chipped in to help me build it! Even Ratchet!” She said happily before frowning, “But I guess now that you're back we'll have to take it down...” 

Bumblebee was quiet for a moment as he just stared up at the blanket above him and felt the soft cushions and blankets underneath his stiff joints.

“Do you think we possibly could… Recharge in the fort one last time? Bumblebee asked hesitantly, "I-it's just really cozy and I'd like to recharge in it, at least once before it's removed!” That wasn't actually the whole truth, sure he did really like the fort and stuff, but the real reason was that he just didn’t want to be alone right now. 

He'd been away from his teammates for weeks and he was still a bit worried that this could all be taken away from him at any minute. Like, if he recharged alone someone might come and take him away in the middle of the night, and he knew that sounded stupid, but it was just what he needed right now. Also, he'd gotten quite used to recharging whilst snuggled up to someone, or at the very least having someone in the same room. So, going back to his own room and laying down on his berth while trying to recharge alone just didn’t sound like a very desirable arrangement. And Bumblebee doubted he'd even be able to recharge that way at all.

Sari's smile seemed to grow even wider at the idea of staying in the fort with Bumblebee. She then ran back to the entrance of the fort and poked her head out, Bumblebee crawling after her at a more sedate pace. She turned her eyes towards Optimus.

“Can we Optimus?! Can me and Bee stay here tonight?! Can we please keep the fort up!?” She pleaded whilst bouncing slightly on the bottoms of her feet in excitement. Optimus gave her a tired smile.

“I don't see why not. It's already been here for a while, so I guess one more night won’t make much of a difference.” Sari quickly looked back towards Bumblebee-

“Did you hear that?! That means we can stay up late, and I can talk about everything you missed while you were gone! We could even watch a movie!” She rambled, seemingly overjoyed at the prospect of a sleepover. “This is going to be so fun!” Optimus cut her off before she could get too overexcited.

“Just take it easy in there and make sure you both recharge at an acceptable time.” He said sternly, making Sari cross her arms over her chest.

"Kill joy." Sari mumble with a pout. Optimus then turned to Sari and addressed her specifically.

“Remember, Bumblebee's been through a lot and he needs his rest.” Bumblebee scoffed.

“I’m fine boss bot! I don’t need to be looked after like I’m a sparkling.” He muttered while wearing a pout of his own. Optimus chose to ignore him and instead waited for Sari to indicate she understood. She just waved him off.

“Yeah, yeah, no fun allowed, we got it.” She said before turning her focus back to Bumblebee. That taken care of, she started filling him in about all the things he had missed. The criminal's that they'd beaten up, all the new shows he'd missed, and anything else that happened to cross her mind.

Both Prowl and Ratchet retired to their own rooms fairly early, still exhausted from the long drive back, with Optimus choosing to follow suit not long after. Which left Bumblebee, Sari and Bulkhead to their own devices. 

Bulkhead, was sadly too big to fit inside the fort, so he chose instead to just sit outside and help Sari catch Bumblebee up on everything that he'd missed.

Bumblebee just continued to relax in the soft pile of pillows and blankets, listened to them talk with a smile. It felt so nice to be back with his friends again. Finally, he was home, he was safe.

A final wave of relief washed over him and Bumblebee couldn't help the tears that started running down his cheeks. Sari was the first to notice and looked horrified before she quickly moved over to Bumblebee, putting her small hands on his shoulders. Bulkhead had also noticed by now and was wearing an expression of concern as he looked into the fort.

“What's wrong little buddy?! Are you still in pain?! Did we upset you?!”

Bumblebee shook his helm and used the back of his servo to wipe away the tears, hearing in the back of his mind as he did so a gentle and soft voice _‘Please don’t cry anymore’_. Primus, he felt pathetic. Just sitting here crying like a sparkling, but at the moment he just couldn't help himself. 

“No, no I'm fine… I just- I’m just _so_ glad to be home.” He said with a watery smile as tears of happiness and relief continued to leak from his optics.


	21. Chapter 21

“You can do it Bee!” Sari shouted gleefully.

“Yeah, you’re almost there!” Bulkhead chimed in.

Bumblebee didn't respond as he was a little preoccupied with trying to maintain his balance at the moment.

He was so close! Just a bit more…There! Slowly he let his peds' lift away from the container he'd been using for stability and he felt extremely proud of himself when he was finally able to balance his full weight on his own servos. He didn't even need the wall for support!

“Woohoo! Go Bee!” Sari cheered. 

Bumblebee gave her a strained smile of accomplishment right before his arms gave out and he landed back on the ground with a thud.

It had been almost a full 4 days since Bumblebee’s rescue and although some things were still a little awkward, the base's environment had gone more or less back to normal. Almost all of his missing person posters had all been removed and Sari and Bulkhead had been great about helping him get back up to speed by talking about all the things he'd missed.

That said, everyone on Team Prime had picked up fairly early on that Bumblebee was uncomfortable talking about the show. Everyone was at least a little curious about what had gone down, but Bumblebee's clear discomfort every time it was brought up had them all making a silent agreement not to mention it unless Bumblebee broached the topic first. Although, Optimus had made several attempts by offering to lend an audio if Bumblebee ever wanted to talk. Bumblebee himself had just shrugged off his offers with a dismissive wave saying he was fine, still not wanting to touch upon the minefield that was talking about his time during the show.

Still, that didn’t stop Bumblebee from noticing the individual expressions of concern they sometimes gave him when they thought he wasn't looking, or their small looks of relief when they saw him in the morning. It seemed like Bumblebee wasn't the only one having trouble believing this was all real, because everyone else looked to have been just as thrown off kilter by his sudden rescue as he was.

Optimus had initially wanted Bumblebee to stay at base until he'd had time to fully recover from his kidnapping, but Bumblebee had hassled Optimus to such an extent that by the fourth day Optimus had caved and allowed Bumblebee to go on missions again.

Today they were helping to unload cargo off of boats in the Detroit harbor. It certainly wasn't as exciting as catching criminals, but on the bright side it was a fairly easy job that didn't require too much effort or thought to get done. They were currently taking a short break from hauling crates around, which gave Bumblebee the perfect opportunity to show Bulkhead and Sari his awesome new ability to stand on his servos.

Bumblebee brushed himself off as he stood up and made a dramatic bow as if he'd just given a full fledged performance. Sari clapped her hands enthusiastically when he was done. 

A bit away from them Optimus, Prowl and Ratchet seemed to be having their own discussion. Optimus looked rather somber as he spoke to the other two. His optics then glanced over to where Bumblebee, Sari and Bulkhead were. Once he realized he'd unintentionally garnered their attention Optimus waved them over.

“Bumblebee, Sari, Bulkhead get over here!” The three of them looked at each other with confusion before they shrugged and walked over to rejoin the rest of the team.

“What’s up Bossbot?” Bumblebee asked.

“Captain Fanzone has just informed me that there were two reported break ins to storage facilities not too far from here and has requested that we check it out.” Optimus then turned towards Bumblebee and gave him an odd look. Bumblebee looked back at him confused.

“What?” He asked. 

“Nothing, just seemed a little early to jump you back into any crime fighting action.” Bumblebee scoffed.

“Come on Bossbot! You know me!” Bumblebee said, punching his closed fist into the palm of his servo. “I’m just aching to get back into the crime fighting business!” He finished with a cocky grin.

Optimus still looked a bit sceptical, but eventually he seemed to shake off his lingering doubt.

“Very well. Autobots roll out!” With the familiar battle cry they all transformed. Well except for Bulkhead who stopped long enough to pick up Sari.

It was only about a 3 minute drive before they arrived in an area surrounded by large buildings used for storage. They were still close to the docks and Bumblebee realised that this must be where cargo was kept as it waited to be shipped or transported elsewhere. It was still right by the water and you could see the shimmering lake between the buildings.

Having confirmed they were in the right place, they all transformed back to robot mode and began giving the area a cursory once over. Currently, everything seemed to be fairly peaceful. There were no obvious signs of criminal activity, but they still had a good 10 storage facilities to check out.

“There are enough buildings to search that we'll need to split up," Optimus said. "Each member will be given two units to search." He then turned his helm back to his team “Ratchet, Bulkhead and Prowl you can take the first, second and third rows of buildings in that order." Optimus said before turning his optics to Bumblebee. "Bumblebee you can take the two at the end of the street and I'll take the second to last.”

Sari raised her hand, drawing Optimus's attention.

“What about me?” she asked, Optimus looked at her and seemed to contemplate her question for a moment before answering.

“You can go with Ratchet.” Optimus said before turning to address their resident medic. “If this situation turns dangerous in  _ any way _ I want you to take her to safety.” Sari pouted.

“I can totally handle myself! And either way, if it’s just some thieves, how bad could it be?” Optimus sighed.

“It’s just a precaution Sari." He said placatingly, "Now let's move out team.”

Bumblebee transformed first and drove over to the buildings Optimus had indicated he wanted searched; before transforming back and looking them over.

They were large cement buildings that had doors similar to the ones used in garages. Bumblebee also noticed several signs next to the door that warned that the contents inside were highly flammable, along with a small picture of an oil barrel on fire.

Bumblebee scrutinized the doors of both the building thoroughly and noticed that one of the doors had a large hole towards the bottom. The metal appeared to have been bent back slightly and the underside of the door looked crumpled as if it had been forced open. 

Bumblebee gave the damaged metal a thoughtful look and was about to walk closer to inspect it when his commlink sparked to life with a panicked shout.

“It’s Lugnut!” Bulkhead screamed, his voice sounding alarmingly panicked before whatever ever else he had to say was swallowed up by a loud crash. The violent sounds of metal hitting metal resoundingly throughout the entire district. 

Bumblebee immediately snapped his helm in the direction of the ensuing fight and saw that Lugnut had appeared out of one of the buildings. The Decepticon hadn't wasted any time and had used the surprise at his sudden appearance to viciously body slam Bulkhead who had been pushed all the way out into the middle of the street. Bulkhead stayed down from where he'd landed on his back, seeming rather dazed, as Lugnut continued to stand over him menacingly.

He saw Ratchet transform and quickly take off in the opposite direction. Probably taking Sari to a more secure location where she wouldn't be in a direct line of fire.

He also saw that Prowl, being the closest out of all of them, immediately jumped into action by pulling out his shurikens and throwing them. They hit Lugnut in one of his massive arms and the minor injury successfully distracted Lugnut enough for him to leave Bulkhead where he'd fallen. His multiple optics narrowed in annoyance as he turned to face down Prowl instead. 

Optimus soon joined them as he came rushing out of the building from where he'd been conducting his own search as he took off running to help his overwhelmed teammates. Bumblebee was preparing to run over as well, But Optimus suddenly stopped mid stride and activated the commlink.

“Wait a second...” Optimus said suspiciously. “There were two reported break ins, if Lugnut is one of the thieves where's the other?” As if on cue, the door just to the right of Bumblebee was suddenly thrown open, and out of the darkness appeared the imposing frame of Blitzwing. His black faceplate sporting a manic grin and he held several barrels of oils under his arms.

Bumblebee stopped dead in his tracks and just stared at the triple changer. He felt as if he might be in shock.

Both of their optics meet and as if by pure instinct Bumblebee could feel his lips forming a smile as his spark began to race faster at the familiar sight of the triple changer. 

Blitzwing seemed to be alright, which made Bumblebee feel immensely relieved. After everything Blitzwing had confided in him about Megatron, he'd been a little concerned that Blitzwing might've been severely punished upon his return. Thankfully, though Blitzwing didn't appear to be damaged, well as far as Bumblebee could tell from a quick glance. 

He noticed that once Blitzwing’s optics landed on him that his own grin somehow managed to grow even wider, seemingly just as delighted to see him as well.

Bumblebee was halfway to taking a step closer, when a loud explosion rang out; Shaking the ground violently and kicking up dust into the air.

Both Blitzwing and Bumblebee snapped their helms towards the sound of the explosion and their optics were immediately drawn towards the epic battle going on between Lugnut and the rest of Bumblebee’s team. The image of his fellow Autobots' fighting without him was what finally lifted the veil of tranquility he'd been living under as reality came crashing down around him.

He hesitantly turned back to Blitzwing, who seemed a little out of sorts himself. Blitzwing was looking down at him again and as they both just continued to stand there, Bumblebee realised he'd have to make a choice.

They weren't fighting on the same side any longer, they weren't friends, and now trapped between their two factions they were forced to face each other as enemies. Bumblebee would have to attack him at some point and Blitzwing would probably try to offline him, and the abrupt realization filled him with a sick kind of dread.

His internal struggle ended up with Bumblebee just continuing to stand there stupidly as he gaped up at Blitzwing in despair.

What was he even supposed to do right now?! Attack the mech that he loved?! He knew very well that Blitzwing didn't feel the way he did, and by just standing there Bumblebee was giving him a free opening to attack! There was no way the other mech had mutual feelings, but Bumblebee still felt as if he were splitting apart as he tried to rationalize what he was supposed to do.

He should attack. That was what a loyal Autobot would have done, but Bumblebee couldn't picture himself actually following through with it. Nothing was right about this situation and the more he tried to work up the courage to take some form of action the more wrong everything felt.

But before Bumblebee could attempt to make sense of the chaos going on inside him, Optimus suddenly appeared before him and made a vicious swing towards the triple changer with his axe. Having been just as distracted as Bumblebee, Blitzwing hadn't noticed the Autobot leaders approach either and thus had almost no reaction time to avoid the attack.

Blitzwing quickly lifted up his arm in a knee jerk reaction to protect himself and the axe made a shallow gash in his forearm. It was only a glancing blow that hadn't even been able to penetrate his thick plating, but Bumblebee still had to stop himself from letting out a yelp of distress by slapping a servo over his mouth. 

Blitzwing dropped the barrels he'd been carrying, and they hit the asphalt with a loud crash. Optimus took a few measured steps backward to give them both some space as he put himself between Bumblebee and the much larger Decepticon. Bumblebee saw Blitzwing's optics narrow dangerously as a look of disdain appeared on his face. He stared back at the Autobot leader, any signs of his earlier delight having completely vanished.

“Bee, are you alright?” Optimus asked, without daring to take his optics off of the unstable Decepticon in front of them.

“I-I’m fine.” Bumblebee stuttered as if in a haze. Everything had happened so fast that his mind was still in the process of cataloging everything and he felt as if his processor was starting to overheat. “He just surprised me.” He added as an addendum, trying to add a somewhat plausible explanation for why he hadn’t done anything or even pulled out his stingers.

Bumblebee quickly transformed his stingers and pointed them at Blitzwing. He didn’t bother making them spark with electricity, as it was hard enough just pointing a weapon at him. His frame started to shake with anxiety. Primus, he didn’t want to do any of this, but he was still an Autobot and he couldn't let down his team. They were all counting him, he knew that, but that didn't make this situation any easier, or calm the erratic pulsing of his spark. 

He knew that Blitzwing must have already picked up on Bumblebee's hesitation to attack and he was about to use that to his advantage.

Optimus took off running towards Blitzwing and made another swipe, but Blitzwing moved out of the way with surprising elegance and grabbed Optimus’s outstretched arm. He grinned deviously down at the Autobot leader before he then pulled Optimus into a spin before he let go with enough velocity to send Optimus sailing right into the storage facility Blitzwing had just emerged from. 

It was too dark to see inside but before long a loud crash rang out as Optimus hit whatever had been left behind in the storage unit.

“Optimus!” Bumblebee screamed frantically, as he made to go after his leader. Blitzwing never gave him the chance to help though, because before he had the opportunity to take more than three steps, Blitzwing immediately grabbed the door and slammed it shut. He then activated his ice cannons and froze the entire front of the building, sealing it in a way that made it impossible to open from the inside. Once he was finished securing the Autobot leader he turned his attention back to Bumblebee. His expression was somewhat difficult to read, but Bumblebee noted that both his canons had returned to their standby position on his back. 

Bumblebee just looked up at the imposing form of Blitzwing as he tried to figure out what to do. Should he comm his team for help? Maybe he could ask if anyone would be willing to switch positions. 

He risked shooting a glance to where his teammates were holding off Lugnut and realised both Prowl and Bulkhead were already way over their helms fighting the massive Decepticon. There was no way they'd be able to spare him any backup at this rate and they were so preoccupied with their own fight that they had yet to notice Bumblebee having his own western style standoff with Blitzwing. 

That short glance when he'd let his guard down was the perfect opening Blitzwing needed and he didn't waste any in taking advantage of his momentary loss of focus, as he primed his cannon to fire. 

Bumblebee immediately snapped his helm towards the sound of a weapon discharging and tried to jump out of the way. However, he was too late to avoid the blast and the ice hit him head on and everything but his helm was quickly encased, the sheer cold spreading all the way down to his protoform.

Bumblebee struggled and jerked as he tried to break free from his icy prison, but it became apparent pretty quickly that it was fruitless. He'd been rendered completely immobile and there was no way out.

Blitzwing then shot a quick glance towards Lugnut before letting his optics fall back towards the imprisoned minibot. As he started walking closer Bumblebee could feel multiple emotions stir inside him. Most of his feelings contradicted each other and he felt as if he were fighting a battle in his mind. On the one hand he knew he should feel absolutely terrified. He'd been made completely helpless in front of an enemy, but on the other hand, Bumblebee hadn't really been scared of Blitzwing since their time on the show and it was difficult to dredge up those old feelings of fear. Even in a situation like this he found it hard to reconcile this vicious Decepticon with the mech that had kept him warm all those nights ago. 

Blitzwing was finally right in front of him, his massive frame eclipsing the sun so that Bumblebee was left covered in his shadow.

Blitzwing then kneeled down until they were both at optic level, faceplate switching to Icy. 

Bumblebee just stared into those crimson optics, before he realised something. There wasn't a single hint of maliciousness in them. They still held the same soft look they’d had when they'd been together, when they'd still been on friendly terms and everything hadn't been so complicated. Just that sudden realisation had Bumblebee feeling a little more relaxed as he stopped trying to escape the frigid ice that surrounded him. Primus, he could feel himself getting lost in Blitzwing’s optics just like he'd done so many times before. Finally, Blitzwing opened his mouth and broke the tense silence between them.

“I wish to speak to you, alone.” His voice was a low, barely audible whisper, but Bumblebee could still hear that his tone didn’t carry the same cool indifference that he'd normally used when addressing the Autobots. In fact if anything his voice was gentle and soft in a way that had Bumblebee's spark racing. “Meet me at midnight, on the big island in the middle of the lake.” Blitzwing said, before looking over his shoulder and pointing at the island that the Autobots had dubbed 'Dinobot island'. It could just be seen peeking out from between two of the storage buildings. 

Bumblebee followed Blitzwing digit, making a mental note of the time and place, before he snapped out of his daze and shook his helm.

Their pact was over, they had no reason  _ not _ to hurt each other, and this whole thing was sounding very fishy. Bumblebee couldn't just drive out in the middle of the  _ night _ , to a  _ remote  _ location, to talk  _ alone  _ with a  _ Decepticon!  _ Yeah, this whole thing had ‘trap’ written all over it!

However, Bumblebee still wanted to believe him. He sounded so earnest and he didn’t really want to believe that Blitzwing would pull such a malicious trick. Still Bumblebee needed to think logically about this, despite how much his spark was telling him to trust Blitzwing, He was still a Deception. Their agreement was over and there was nothing to guarantee Blitzwing wouldn't act violently if they met up again. 

“Come to an island alone?” Bumblebee whispered back incredulously, making his suspicion clear. “How do I know this isn't some sort of trap?” Blitzwing shook his helm.

“It’s not.” He reassured “I only want to talk to you on friendly terms… One last time. There is something I need to discuss with you and after that we shall go our separate ways. No tricks, no fighting.” Bumblebee felt his spark ache at Blitzwing’s mention of ‘one last time’ but pushed it aside for now, he had to focus.

Bumblebee would readily admit that he wanted that as well. To have the chance to talk to Blitzwing one last time before they had to go back to being enemies for the rest of their function. ' _ Primus that thought stung.' _ And this was also seemingly the answer to his prayers. He'd have one last opportunity to confess how he really felt. It was everything he’d ever wanted since they'd both had to say goodbye. But despite all that he still knew he needed to think about this logically.

“Why should I trust you?” Bumblebee asked, though his voice had lost most of its initial suspicion. “Our pact is over. You could just be lying to me!” 

Something that resembled sorrow flashed across Blitzwing’s faceplate, but it was gone in the next second as he appeared to be frantically thinking about how to convince Bumblebee of his sincerity. After biting his lip for a few more anxious seconds he seemed to think of something, because his lips slowly pulled up into a soft smile.

“You have my word that this is not a trap,” Blitzwing finally said as he used a digit to make an exaggerated X across his chest where his spark chamber was under. “Cross my spark.”

It was such a simple gesture, but somehow it still managed to soothe all the doubts still running loops in Bumblebee's processor. He honestly wasn't sure how to respond after that, but he was saved from the awkward situation by the sound of another explosion going off.

Blitzwing and Bumblebee both jerked their helms towards the sound, and saw that Lugnut had used his punch again. Knocking Bulkhead to the floor from where he'd been grappling with the Decepticon and sending Prowl flying.

Blitzwing hastily stood back up just in time for Lugnut to turn towards Blitzwing, his optics telescoping angrily.

“Stop playing with the Autobot Blitzwing!” Lugnut barked at him, “Our glorious leader commanded that we bring back oil, not waste time fighting!” 

Blitzwing just gave him an irritated scowl and let out huff. He then turned away from Bumblebee and walked back to where he'd dropped the barrels on the ground. As soon as he had picked up the last one, he shot Bumblebee one last glance over his shoulder. Bumblebee could only describe the look in his optics as  _ dissatisfaction _ .

“Please show up.” The faint whisper sounded almost pleading and Bumblebee could just barely contain himself from insisting that he'd be there. Instead he slightly inclined his helm in a short nod of acknowledgement that could be brushed off by anyone who saw. 

Despite his clear unwillingness to leave things as they were, Blitzwing transformed and blasted off into the sky, Lugnut soon following suit as they made their getaway.

As soon as it was clear that both Lugnut and Blitzwing had left and weren't coming back, Prowl suddenly appeared right next to Bumblebee as if he'd been conjured out of thin air. He then gave the ice a spinning roundhouse kick, causing it to crack. 

Bumblebee wiggled a little and was eventually able to break off a big enough piece of ice to free both his servos, allowing him to pull himself out the rest of the way.

“Thanks.” Bumblebee said, as he brushed off the last of the ice particles. “We should probably go help Bossbot out of that storage unit.” He said as he jerked his thumb towards the frozen door in front of them. Prowl gave an affirmative nod and they both went over.

Prowl simply started kicking at the hard sheet of ice as Bumblebee used his stingers to warm it up until it became unstable enough to be broken off with Prowl's repeated attacks. Finally, they managed to clear enough ice away from the door for it to be opened. The door ended up opening from the inside and Optimus came half stumbling, half sliding out, causing Bumblebee let out a loud laugh at the sight of his leader.

He was covered helm to ped with oil, probably from crashing into the leftover barrels in the storage unit, but otherwise he didn't seem to be injured.

“You okay Bossbot?” Bumblebee asked, between chuckles. Optimus gave him a frustrated look but nodded.

“I’m fine.” he said tersely before activating the group commlink “Is everyone alright?”

“I’m okay!” Came Bulkhead's response as they saw him slowly crawling out of the crater he'd been laying in.

“Sari and I are fine as well.” Said a rather frazzled sounding Ratchet. “What happened out there?”

“Blitzwing showed up as well and caused some property damage out here, but so far everyone appears to be uninjured.” Optimus then looked down at himself and all the oil that was slowly dripping off his frame and let out an annoyed sigh. “I think we can call it a day team, let's return to base.” 

Bumblebee ended up sitting on the sofa once they got back and just switched between channels absentmindedly. His optics were watching the screen but his mind might as well have been thousands of miles away.

Behind his optics all he kept seeing was Blitzwing and his recent interaction playing on repeat. Every word that had been exchanged, every stolen look, every minor detail. And all of it just ended up stopping on the same question. ‘ _ should I go?’  _

It had seemed like the clearly right choice back then, but now that he had actually started to think more about it he was becoming uncertain.

It could be a trap, Bumblebee had to consider that outcome, but after everything Blitzwing had said he was starting to seriously doubt it. Blitzwing hadn't broken a single promise he'd made while they were still in captivity, and if he hadn't then why would he start now?

Still, Blitzwing  _ was _ a Decepticon, and it was always possible he had just been humoring their pact because it was of benefit to him... Bumblebee shook his helm, no that wasn’t it right! If that was true then he wouldn’t have saved Bumblebee during their escape attempt when he could've just as easily saved himself.

But that raised another question, would it be morally right to meet up with him again? 

There was no way he could tell his team about this. They'd surely forbid him from going or even worse; they'd see this as a perfect opportunity to lay their own trap and deprive Megatron of one of his assets. So, yeah telling any of his teammates was out of the question. There was no way Bumblebee could allow the fragile trust between him and Blitzwing to be broken by such a vast betrayal, and the idea of helping Blitzwing be imprisoned again was sickening. Bumblebee would never allow himself to be made an accessory to that; especially, after Blitzwing told him how much being tied up terrified him. No, the mere thought made him feel sick to the bottom of his tank.

There was no way he could tell his team about this, so if he did decide to go, he'd need to be sneaky about it. Even though this whole thing made him feel as if he was going behind his team's back. 

And yeah, he’d worked with Blitzwing in the past, but that was because they'd been forced to by circumstances out of their control. If Bumblebee met up with him now, it would be because he  _ wanted _ to meet him. Which was true, he did want to see Blitzwing again.

Bumblebee honestly missed him so much it made his spark ache, and with this opportunity he might finally be able to confess how he really felt about him. He was also somewhat curious about what could be so important that Blitzwing had been willing to cross enemy lines just to discuss it with him.

Bumblebee sighed, Primus this was exhausting to think about. Why couldn’t there ever just be a clear cut choice?! Why did everything have to be so confusing?! Why couldn’t the universe just throw him a bone?! Or at least give him a sign in the right direction!

He was pulled out of his internal monologue when Sari suddenly jumped up onto the couch next to him. She was holding a bowl of milk and had just started pouring cereal into it.

Bumblebee just watched her for a moment, his lips forming a small smile .

“Isn’t it a bit late for breakfast?” He asked. Sari looked up at him and let out a giggle.

“It’s a midnight snack silly, I'm hungry.” She said and was about to place the box down on the table when she noticed there was a maze printed on the back of it. She pointed to it as she looked up at Bumblebee.

“Did you know that if you ever get stuck in a maze you should stick to one side? If you do that you'll never really be lost.” Bumblebee felt a strong feeling of deja vu wash over him as he remembered saying that exact thing to Blitzwing when they'd been trapped in Master Disasters maze. 

Bumblebee smiled down at her.

“Yeah, I think I remember you saying something like that.” And it was about that time that he finally made up his mind.

It was fairly late that night when Bumblebee quietly got out of his berth and snuck out of his room, making sure to close his door so no one would notice he wasn't there if they happened to pass by. 

He then made his way silently down the hallway until he came to the door that led outside. He opened it slowly, feeling the cold night air brush against his plating. He was about to step outside, but then, like a strike of lightning did he remembered something. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned back towards the base's monitor.

He kept each of his steps slow and measured as he walked up to it before initiating its start up sequence, making sure to look over his shoulder now and then to be sure no one was coming down the hallway.

He was still going, he just needed to check on one thing with teletran 1 before he left.


	22. Chapter 22

Bumblebee sped quickly through the brightly lit streets of Detroit. Knowing that if he gave himself anymore time to think about what he was about to do he'd start to second guess himself. Soon he reached Detroit harbor. He allowed himself a brief moment to just be on the dock and look out at the island in the middle of the lake. That was his goal, that was where he'd meet up with Blitzwing.

He could already feel his spark starting to race both with excitement and a healthy dose of anxiety. He had no way of knowing how this meeting would go or even what he could expect from the other mech, but no matter how nervous he was, it didn't stop him from flooring his gas pedal and driving right off the edge of the dock; where he landed in the cold water with a big splash.

He stubbornly tried to ignore how the freezing water worked its way into every one of his transformation seams as he drove along the murky bottom of the lake bed. Finally, he made it to the sandy shore of Dinobot island. He transformed back to his bot mode with a full frame shudder and started trying to shake the cold water out of his gears. Realizing he was as dry as he was going to get he started taking stalk of his surroundings.

Blitzwing had been pretty clear about meeting him on here, but the island was pretty big and Blitzwing had failed to explain exactly _where_ on the island they were supposed to meet. Bumblebee let out a soft huff through his vents. _‘Nice planning Blitzbrain,’_ he thought before he chose to just start walking forward. Without further instructions on where on the island he was supposed to go he supposed any direction would do.

The floor of the island was covered with dry leaves. They made light crunches under his peds as he walked and it was the only real sound he could pick up in the night time silence.

He had to stop several times because, whenever he thought he heard something different his spark would skip. Unfortunately, It was either the wind rustling the tree branches or some random animal he had disturbed, and everytime it happened he was filled with disappointment. His optics continued to search the surrounding forest, looking for any hint of the big con, and honestly he was starting to get a little frustrated. ‘ _Blitzwing is massive! He shouldn't be this hard to find!’_ he thought irritably as he walked into a clearing surrounded by tall trees.

He couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit anxious the longer he walked without seeing anything. Maybe this actually was a trap? Maybe Megatron was waiting right around the corner and he was just about to walk right into his servos. He violently shook his helm, no! Blitzwing had _promised!_ And besides, if it really was a trap then it was too late to turn back now. He'd already come this far, he might as well see this reckless decision through. 

It was about then that he heard the low whine of an aircraft's engine. It seemed to slowly be growing louder and Bumblebee slowed to a stop as he started curiously searching for the source of the noise. His optics were then drawn towards the night sky where an unmistakable purple, and beige coloured jet was making low passes over the island.

The trees Bumblebee was standing under swayed dangerously from in the jet's high speed fly bys and Bumblebee had to avoid eating dried leaves as the air turbulence kicked up the forest floor. The second time the aircraft passed over the area, Bumblebee could see it executing a sharp U turn back towards the island and he realised that Blitzwing must have finally spotted him.

Blitzwing tilted the nose of his aerial mode downward as he dipped closer to the ground, before transforming midair and landing on the ground with a heavy thud. It felt as if the whole island shook with his landing, and several trees lost what few leaves they had left as frightened birds and squirrels fled their homes in alarm.

The combined lights from the thousands of lamps from the distant city combined with the bright shine of the full moon overhead was thankfully enough to luminate the area enough for them both to see clearly.

Blitzwing recovered from his harsh landing rather quickly and began inspecting the minibot below him. Bumblebee himself felt the most wonderful sensation of warmth flooding his chest as he took in the triple changers sudden appearance. The light danced beautifully across Blitzwing's frames and he almost seemed to glow in the soft light of the moon. But underneath his outward facade of stoicism Bumblebee could see a fine line of tension carried by his shoulders as his frame betrayed just how uncertain of this reunion he really was.

They just stood there for a moment in silence. Each of them trying to subtly discern the emotions of the other, as if that would somehow help them figure out what kind of tone this meeting was supposed to have. Should they be suspicious of each other? Hostile? Friendly? Neither of them were sure.

But after an awkward few minutes with neither of them speaking Bumblebee couldn't take it anymore. If there wasn't any clearly assigned way for them to act around each other then Bumblebee would just have to set the tone himself.

“Sup Blitz.” He said casually, as if he were simply greeting an old friend.

Blitzwing's optics seemed to light up slightly at the mention of his nickname, and Bumblebee could see his words having an immediate effect on Blitzwing as the discomfort and anxious energy seemed to ooze out of his fame when he returned Bumblebee's greeting with a soft smile.

“Hello Bumblebee.” And with that Bumblebee could feel his insides becoming all warm and gooey. It really shouldn't have been that big of a deal, but the way Blitzwing had actually used his real name instead of addressing him as simply, ‘Autobot’ or ‘Bug’ meant that he must still respect and care enough about Bumblebee to remember it, and that also meant he saw him as an individual worth remembering and not just another minibot just like the millions of others like him.

Blitzwing’s optics scanned him from top to bottom before his monocular zoomed in on his previously damaged ped.

“How is the injury?” He asked, despite the fact that he couldn't make out any trace of the previous damage.

“It’s all good now.” Bumblebee responded, stomping his ped on the ground a few times to prove his point. “It was nothing a little allspark magic couldn't fix!” Blitzwing simply nodded. Bumblebee stopped for a moment. He’d hadn't really had the time to look Blitzwing over during the battle yesterday, since everything had been so hectic. So this was his first chance to really take in the other's condition. He _seemed_ to be doing okay, and yeah he looked a little tired but other than that Bumblebee couldn't see any outward signs of damage. Bumblebee chose then to ask a question of his own.

“How did Megatron take it when you got back?” He asked carefully, a bit of concern bleeding into his voice. 

“He took it rather well.” Blitzwing responded shortly. Bumblebee nodded, even if he wasn’t really sure what ‘well’ actually meant. After Blitzwing’s story of what had been done to him after simply skipping out on some of his duties for a few days Bumblebee couldn't be sure if ‘well’ meant ‘he actually took it well’ or ‘I got back and he didn’t offline me.’ Still, despite his concern, Bumblebee chose not to poke further into the matter.

Silence descended upon them after that, but thankfully this time it wasn't an uncomfortable silence. Both of them were still a little uncertain about what to say and they knew there was a conversation that needed to be had. Still, neither of them were sure how to address the elephant in the room. This could very well be the last friendly talk either of them had with the other and neither of them wanted it to end. The growing silence between them just being another excuse to remain in each other's presence.

Still, they both knew that they couldn't keep stalling like this forever. Neither of them had the time to just waste standing here looking at each other, so after a while Bumblebee spoke up.

“You called me here because you said you wanted to talk,” Bumblebee prompted. “Sooo… what was it you wanted to talk about?” 

“Several things.” Blitzwing said, before reaching into his subspace. “But for starters...” and from there Blitzwing produced an allspark fragment, one that Bumblebee was intimately familiar with. “I wanted to give you this”

Blitzwing took a few steps closer before reaching out his open servo and offering him the blue crystal.

Bumblebee stared at him in confusion as he slowly reached forward. He could feel his spark beating faster when his digits brushed against Blitzwing's warm servo as he grabbed the glowing sliver of allspark from his palm.

Bumblebee eventually looked down at the fragment that was in his servo. He shifted it around slightly and after only studying it briefly he could tell that this was no carefully crafted forgery, this fragment was the real deal. 

Bumblebee continued to stare down at the apparently genuine allspark fragment in bewilderment before he was suddenly snapped out of his thoughts as he realised something important. 

“Wait. What about Megatron?” He asked, suddenly anxious. “Won’t he be like, _super_ mad when he realizes this is gone?!” Bumblebee insisted as he held out the fragment in a silent request for him to take it back. Blitzwing, seeing the display, simply shook his helm with a soft smile.

He instead took Bumblebee's outstretched servo and very gently used his own to bend Bumblebees digits around the fragment. Bumblebee could feel how warm Blitzwing's servos were in relation to his own plating and he suddenly felt a burning need to hold Blitzwing's servo properly. To have their servos intertwined but he pushed the feeling back.

“Megatron never knew I had it." He said gently, "So don’t worry, I won’t get in trouble for this.” His gentle reassurance helped to calm some of the mounting worry in Bumblebee's spark.

Bumblebee looked at his closed fist and saw blue light gently shining from between his digits.

“Why?” He finally asked, confused. Blitzwing raised an optic ridge.

"Why, what?” he asked. 

“Why are you giving me this? Why aren’t you keeping it for the Decepticons?” Blitzwing’s faceplate switched to Random.

“Aww you don’t like the gift?” He said with a false pout. Bumblebee shook his helm.

“No, no it's not that, I'm thankful for it, really! But our arrangement is over and we're enemies again… So why are you doing this? Why aren't you giving the fragment to Megatron?” Blitzwing just continued to smile his jagged grin.

“It's payback!” He said with a giggle. Bumblebee just cocked his helm to the side, making Blitzwing realize he needed to be more clear. “Pay back for saving my life!” he reiterated. Bumblebee just stared incredulously at him for a while before responding. 

“For saving your life? But you ended up saving my life just as many times if not more!" Bumblebee then started trying to think back as he counted all the times they had ended up saving each other. “I saved you in the maze, but then you ended up saving me there as well, so I guess that would make us even. There was also that time I saved you after you fainted but then you saved me after I got punched, and then you-” Blitzwings faceplate switched to Hothead.

“If we try to compare how many times we saved or helped each other we’re going to be here all night! Just take the damn fragment so we can call it even!” He shouted. Bumblebee rolled his optics at him, but he did put the fragment into his own sub space. He then looked up at the larger mech with a smirk.

“I hope you're sure about this, because there are no take backsies!” Blitzwing let out a low huff in response. 

Blitzwing suddenly seemed to get lost in thought as they both stood there in silence for a moment before Bumblebee spoke again.

“Hey, by the way I checked up on the Jump Joint.” Bumblebee said softly, causing Blitzwing to immediately turn his attention to him. “It’s still standing and the band's still around as well.” Blitzwing just stared at him for a moment before his astonishment quickly morphed into a soft expression of delight.

“You really did check.'' His voice was so unbelievably soft and full of happiness that Bumblebee couldn’t help but feel infected by it. He felt so good knowing that he'd been able to make Blitzwing happy, he just wished he could do it more often. 

“I told you I would!” Bumblebee said gleefully. Blitzwing just continued to look down at him with a smile on his lips.

“Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome!” Bumblebee replied. 

They fell into silence yet again, and Bumblebee started to absentmindedly rock back and forth on his peds. Their next topic of conversation needed to be addressed, but it was like neither of them wanted to be the one to broach it. They'd created a small bubble of happiness on this little Island, and as much as they wanted to stay in the friendly atmosphere forever they both knew that it couldn't last.

It was Blitzwing who decided to eventually bite the bullet, his grinning faceplate switching back to the more subdued Icy.

“So, our pact is officially over.” He said, his voice serious, “We both managed to escape and we've been reunited with our respective fractions.” Bumblebee nodded hesitantly in agreement.

“Yeah…” Bumblebee said morosely. Blitzing crossed his arms over his chest.

“So, that means that after this meeting we'll be enemies again.” The simple way Blitzwing said that statement made Bumblebee spark ache. He looked over at the big mech in front of him, and realized that no matter how hard he tried he'd never be able to see him that way again. He just couldn’t see him as an enemy. All he saw when he looked at Blitzwing was the mech who had kept him warm, the mech that had stayed up all night just to make sure Bumblebee would be alright, the mech that had offered up his own freedom in exchange for Bumblebee's even though he had no guarantee that Bumblebee would ever come back for him. He'd never again be able to see him as simply a dangerous and unstable triple changer. That perception of Blitzwing had died along with Master Disaster's show and was now long gone.

Bumblebee didn’t _want_ them to be enemies again, he hated it! He hated that he would be forced to fight Blitzwing, he hated that they were separated by their factions, he hated the whole Primus damned war! If it didn't exist as a constant barrier between them, this whole thing would have been so much easier!

“I don’t want us to be enemies again.” The meek words slipped out before he could fully process the consequences.It was like the words had gone right from his spark and out of his mouth without consulting his processor about it first, forcing out the words that his logical mind would have been too afraid to say out loud.

Bumblebee immediately felt his cheeks turning bright pink with embarrassment. He saw how Blitzwing just started staring at him and Bumblebee wished the ground would just swallow him up.

Blitzwing’s faceplate then switched to Random, which was not in any way a comfort for Bumblebee. He nervously looked up at the grinning faceplate as it let out a laugh.

“Not enemies?” He asked, “Does that mean you're ready to join the cause?” He let out a cackling laugh as he finished, and Bumblebee quickly shook his helm.

“No! I didn’t mean it like that!” He said. “I just… I don’t... I just want to...” Primus this was _so_ hard! He had no idea how to explain how he felt or what he could say that would make Blitzwing understand. How could he admit that the reason he didn’t want them to go back to being enemies was because the very thought of hurting Blitzwing made him feel sick. The idea that he might someday be forced to help capture Blitzwing and keep him prisoner in a tiny cell by the Autobots made his spark feel as if it was tearing itself apart.

Bumblebee let out a deep sigh, as he tried to organize his thoughts. This was his last chance to tell Blitzwing how he really felt. He couldn’t allow himself to waste this opportunity just because of his own cowardice. But the sheer anxiety he felt as he imagined how Blitzwing would react paralyzed him by making an already difficult situation even more nerve wracking. Would he laugh at him? Would he be understanding? Or would he just dismiss both him and his feelings as sappy Autobot sentiment.

Bumblebee gulped nervously before taking another deep breath as he tried to encourage himself to just go for it. He'd never know how the other would react unless he actually stepped up and told him the truth. Trying to predict his future rejection wasn't doing anything but making him more anxious. If he really was going to go through with this he needed to stop stalling and actually say something. If it got weird he'd just have to improvise from there and hope for the best because, if he kept holding onto his feelings like this, he'd never have any closure and would go the rest of his life thinking about ‘what ifs’.

“I need to tell you something.” He started. Blitzwing lifted an optic ridge.

“What is it?” He asked curiously. Bumblebee could already feel his spark racing as anxiety started to creep in. He started to awkwardly fiddle his own digits as he shifted his gaze away from Blitzwing. He wasn't sure he was brave enough to meet Blitzwing's optics as he spoke.

“Well, I kinda wanted to tell back when we were still at the Master Disaster base, but I guess I kind of freaked out because there were so many things happening, and you know, you almost went offline and then my teammates showed up. It was all so stressful you know- well of course you would know you were there- but anyway that’s not important! But all those things were happening so fast and I really wanted to tell you, but instead I just ended up saying ‘I’ll see you around’ which was _so_ stupid, but I-”

"Bumblebee," Blitzwing said suddenly, his voice unexpectedly gentle. Bumblebee's incomprehensible rant came to a screeching halt at the mention of his name and he realized he'd failed to notice that Blitzwing's faceplate had switched back to Icy. 

“You're rambling.” He continued softly. Bumblebee immediately felt his cheeks filling with hot energon as he flushed with embarrassment. Blitzwing's faceplate then switched to Random. “Remember to vent regularly or you’ll end up passing before you can tell me anything!” He said with a chuckle.

Bumblebee shot him a halfhearted glare, but he did take the time to inhale and then exhale properly as he tried to steel his nerves for another try.

“Okay, so I just- I know that what I’m about to say might sound stupid. Especially, because after this since we'll both have to return to our warring factions, and I know you probably don’t feel the same way, but I've just gotta let you know because if I let you leave again without telling you the truth I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go on or forgive myself.” His voice had started trembling towards the end and Bumblebee worried that he'd just end up sounding weak. Blitzwing had lost his characteristically wide grin and his jagged maw had gradually shrunk down to a thin line of red as he seemed to catch on to just how important this was to Bumblebee. His faceplate suddenly spun back to Icy as he devoted his full attention to him and whatever information he still seemed to be struggling to get out. 

Bumblebee just continued to press forward as he attempted to explain himself. “If after this, you tell me you don’t feel the same, we can still just go back to the way it was before the show and we can forget that this whole conversation even happened.” Blitzwing scowled a bit at that, but continued to stay silent as he gave a curt nod of acknowledgement.

Bumblebee let out a deep breath through his vents. _‘Okay, here goes nothing.’_

“Blitzwing... I-I” Primus his spark was racing. He shut his optics tightly and prepared himself to just blurt it all out in one go so he could get this over with. “I love you.” 

Not a single sound was heard after his confession and it felt as if the whole world was holding its breath with him as he waited. The words that used to be only spoken in the privacy of his own mind were finally out in the open. Now all he could do was wait for Blitzwing's reaction to finally hearing the truth.

Bumblebee was terrified to open his optics and see Blitzwing's expression, but eventually his curiosity got the best of him, and he slowly opened a single optic and peeked up at the silent triple changer.

Blitzwing's optics were blown wide as he looked down at the minibot with astonishment. Bumblebee could tell there must be a million things going on inside his helm; because he hadn't moved an inch. For how still and silent the larger mech had become he might as well have been a statue. 

He stayed like that for a while, and Bumblebee almost felt as if they'd both been frozen in time before a violent whirl suddenly broke the silence as Hothead emerged with a dark laugh. 

Bumblebee knew he should've been upset over having his spark felt confession laughed at, but honestly he felt no such thing. Blitzwing's laugh wasn’t one of careless mockery. If anything it sounded almost.. sad? He sounded like he was pained, or as if he had suddenly realized he'd just been made the butt of some cruel joke. Blitzwing's laughter eventually cut off as he gave Bumblebee a scowl and bared his denta.

“Someone like _you_ ? Loving _me_? Ha!" He barked. "What kind of moron do you think I am?!” Bumblebee shook his helm.

“I swear It’s not a trick!" Bumblebee said as he attempted to reassure Blitzwing of his honesty "I’m telling you the truth!” But that statement didn’t seem to alleviate Blitzwing's bad mood at all because he ended up taking a few thundering steps closer. His heavy footfall caused the ground underneath them to shake ominously. He then crouched down until their faceplates were mere centimeters apart. He was so close Bumblebee could actually feel his hot breath against his faceplate.

”What could someone like you ever see worth loving in someone like me?! What could _anyone_ ever see in me that is worth loving? What kind of fragged up malfunction would you even have to be to want something like this?” Blitzwing shouted as he pointed to his faceplate before gesturing to the rest of his frame. “A unhinged, volatile, triple changing freak!” His voice was dark almost like he dared Bumblebee to prove him wrong.

This was not the outcome Bumblebee had prepared himself for, and he knew logically that he should've been terrified. He was all alone with a Decepticon that was routinely referred to as 'unstable' by both sides. Blitzwing was a massive, high ranking Decepticon that had been built for war, and if he wanted, he could easily crush Bumblebee's helm in the palm of his servo. All these facts should've scared the slag out of Bumblebee, but they didn't, not in the slightest. He didn’t even flinch when Blitzwing had leaned down and yelled at him; because no matter how dangerous Blitzwing was trying to make himself look right now, that didn't erase all the time they'd spent learning to trust each other and gotten to know each other. And regardless of how his mind kept trying to drive home just how dangerous this situation was, he couldn't bring himself to actually feel afraid. Because in his spark, he knew Blitzwing would never intentionally hurt him. 

As he continued to stare into Blitzwing’s visor Bumblebee could see hints of his own faceplate reflected back at him. His expression was calm and didn't show even a hint of the fear or worry Blitzwing was probably expecting. Bumblebee then saw how his mouth quirked into a familiar, carefree grin. 

“This malfunction!” Bumblebee joyously exclaimed as he pointed at himself. Blitzwing immediately lost his dangerous demeanor at those words, as his expression morphed into one of complete shock. He definitely hadn't been expecting that to be his answer. He had probably expected him to step down, say that he never could love him or admit this was all some sort of joke. But Bumblebee’s carefree answer had apparently not followed any script he’d had in his helm about how this was going to go.

“I honestly really do love you Blitzy. ” Bumblebee continued softly, as he raised one servo to gently cup Blitzwing's faceplate.

It was a bit hard to see with Hothead but Bumblebee could see a change in the red color of his faceplate as the triple changers cheek grew slightly warmer under his servo. He was _totally_ blushing! Bumblebee's smile grew even wider at that realization. Blitzwing just continued to stare at Bumblebee in disbelief, though he made no attempt to pull away from Bumblebee's gentle touch.

It was hard to guess what Blitzwing might be thinking without seeing his optics, but Bumblebee knew he must be trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. So, in an attempt to let Blitzwing figure out things for himself, Bumblebee allowed him to have a rare moment of silence as he waited for his response.

His faceplate eventually switched to Icy, his single optic narrowing in suspicion as he scanned Bumblebee from top to bottom like he was looking for any hint of dishonesty. However, all he found from the minibot was love and sincerity.

“You're being serious?” He asked cautiously, his frame tense as if he were waiting for Bumblebee to admit that this had all been a ploy. Bumblebee nodded his helm with finality.

“Dead serious.” Blitzwing still looked a bit unsure, but Bumblebee's answer did relieve some of the tension in his frame. His mouth wordlessly opened and closed a few times like he had thought of something but then had changed his mind. He did that a couple of times before he was able to get out a sentence.

“You do know this counts as treason. Right?” Bumblebee's smile lagged a bit, but he nodded.

“I know.” 

“And you… Want to be with me, love me, despite all of that?” Bumblebee smiled as he nodded again.

“I know that if we dated it could be dangerous, but…” Bumblebee swallowed. It was now or never. “I felt something back when we were trapped together in that cell. I didn’t want to believe it at first but I realize now that I loved you. And even now that we're free and back to being enemies, that feeling hasn't changed. It’s still with me, and it's just as strong as when we were together. I also noticed that- that I...” Bumblebee cleared his throat. “I- I really missed you. So I don’t want to go back to being your enemy, I want us to be able to talk again, and I want to create more happy memories with you.” Blitzwing just looked at Bumblebee for a while.

Then slowly his lips formed a soft smile. It was that same genuine smile that made Bumblebee's whole frame feel warm and his spark feel as if it were doing backflips in its chamber. 

“I missed you as well,” Blitzwing admitted softly. Bumblebees optics lit up and as he was suddenly overcome with happiness. Blitzwing then continued, "When I returned to the Decepticon base all I felt was this emptiness, as if I'd lost something very important. But when I saw you again even though it was on the battlefield I felt that emptiness disappear, vanish. It was like I’m a puzzle missing a piece and when I saw you I felt...Whole. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I do know that I hate the feeling of being away from you.” Bumblebee was so happy he could've screamed. Blitzwing had missed him as well! He wanted so badly to just throw his arms around Blitzwing's neck and never let go. But he needed to put that on hold for a moment. There was still something important he needed to ask.

“You know that if we date it'll count as treason on your side as well." Blitzwing nodded. “And I think the punishment for that is gonna be way worse than just getting sent to the stockade if Megatron finds out about this.” Blitzwing's smile didn’t falter even with the looming threat of violence from the Decepticon warlord. He instead gently placed his servo and over the one Bumblebee was still holding against his faceplate.

“At this point I'd rather live a short life _with_ you, then a long life _without_ you.” Bumblebee could barely contain his excitement at those words as he shifted and bounced on the spot. 

Blitzwing seemed amused by Bumblebee's enthusiasm, but he chose not to say anything about it. 

They stopped talking after that and just looked at each other. Nothing more needed to be said. Bumblebee gazed up into Blitzwing’s deep crimson optics as Blitzwing looked down lovingly into his blue ones. Bumblebee felt as if he were overflowing with happiness, his entire frame feeling warm and fuzzy. His optics eventually trailed down to Icy's blue lips. He was so overwhelmed with love for the triple changer he felt as if he might explode.

“Can I… would it be alright if-” Bumblebee's faceplate blushed bright pink. “Can I kiss you?” And then Bumblebee heard the most wonderful sound he'd ever heard in all of his life. Blitzwing started laughing whilst he was on Icy. It was a loud joyful sound that had any nearby birds who'd been brave enough to stay after Blitzwing's initial landing fly off in fear. The laugh rang out like the most beautiful music. A sound he had never heard before. Bumblebee had heard many people laugh in his lifetime, but none had ever gotten even close to sounding as amazing, as wonderful, as magical as Blitzwing's. His laughter was like icicles breaking off in the morning sun, or the sight of the first undisturbed snow that covered the city in white. When it ended Bumblebee missed it. He wished he'd thought to record it so he could listen to it again and again. Though he seriously doubted a recorder would've been able to do it justice. 

“Would you really like to?” Blitzwing asked, his optics bright with mirth. The mere thought that Bumblebee had asked at all seemed to fill him with joy.

“I… I would like that very much.” He responded sheepishly. Blitzwing let out a chuckle.

“Then kiss me to your sparks content.”

Blitzwing started to lean down and like a spell so Bumblebee felt compelled to move forward. He felt like he was being drawn towards Blitzwing, like metal to a magnet. They were soon close enough that their soft breaths of air could be felt against each other's plating. Bumblebee was the one to close the final distance between them. 

To Bumblebee's surprise the triple changers lips were much softer than he'd expected. The delicate metal tasted sweet and Bumblebee could feel the immense warmth radiating from the war frame. 

Bumblebee shut his optics in bliss as he reached out to blindly grab the sides of Blitzwing's helmet and pull him closer. He wanted to feel more of Blitzwing's warmth, he wanted to taste more of that sweet flavor and he never wanted to let go.

Strong arms suddenly reached around Bumblebee's waist and pulled him right off the ground. Blitzwing then stood to his full height as he continued to press Bumblebee's much smaller frame against his own.

Kissing Blitzwing was certainly an experience, and Bumblebee could honestly say that nothing he'd ever done could compare. 'It was amazing' was the only way he could think to describe it.

The world outside had faded away, leaving Bumblebee and Blitzwing in their own little paradise where they were the only two beings in existence. All of Bumblebee's previous anxiety and worries for the future had disappeared. The love he felt for the mech in front of him having drowned everything else out and left him with the singular feeling of pure euphoria.

When they finally pulled apart they were both a little shaky and out of breath.

They leaned their forehelms together as they took the time to just stare into each other's optics, both their faces adorned with soft smiles. 

“Bumblebee,” Blitzwing whispered adoringly.

“Yes?” 

“I love you too.” Bumblebee let out a light chuckle.

“Can I have your word on that?” Bumblebee asked with a grin. Blitzwing rolled his optics at him, but the smile never left his lips.

“You're an idiot,” He said, in a fond version of his usual deadpan.

“Perhaaaaaps,” Bumblebee said cheekily “But I’m your idiot!” That made them both burst into a laughing fit, a laugh of joy, a laugh of happiness, a laugh of love before they silenced it with yet another kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to write a sequel to this, so keep an eye out for that if you are interested!  
> I also want to give and extra thank you to friendoffungi on tumblr (check her out) for beta reading!  
> Thank you all for reading this fic, for leaving kudos and all you wonderful comments they mean the world to me, and I hoped you enjoyed reading this fic just as much as I did writing it!

**Author's Note:**

> The link to my tumblr is: https://tastytoast---11.tumblr.com/


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